I'll Only Be In Your Way
by AnimeFanGirl93
Summary: A story about a she-wolf and how she's traveling with four wolves to find paradise. While she's traveling with them, memories of past comes back and haunts her. Will she let go of her past on her own or will a simple gray wolf help her let go? TsumeXoc.
1. Chapter 1

A man with white/grayish hair was riding a red car and a woman was riding beside him. The man had on tight black leather shirt with the sleeves torn off. The sleeves were separate but were kept on his arms. He had an X scar on his chest and a Grey shirt underneath the leather shirt. He had on tight black leather pants and black shoes.

The woman next to him had a tight black long sleeve off-shoulder top that stops on top of her belly button, showing off your plain belly button ring. She also had on a pair of midnight blue jeans and black shoes. She had long midnight black that stops at her mid-back, chin length bangs that covers the right side of her face and two pieces of her hair over her shoulders, a pair of emerald eyes, and her skin was slightly tanned. They were riding next to a train. They shot at it and they started to shot back. The man avoided the shots all the while trying to keep the car on its wheels.

"Let's go." The man said. The guys who were in the back of the car started to shoot at the train but they got shot.

"Tsume, you sure this is gonna work?" The woman asked.

"Don't worry Esmeralda, we've done this before." Tsume said.

Tsume got closer to the train. One of the doors opened. Esmeralda got one box of dynamite, lit it and threw it at the door. It exploded. Tsume went in reverse and the got to a ledge were they can walk. The guys and Esmeralda got on the ledge but one kid got pushed and was hanging by the railing. One of the guys opened a door but it held a machine that shot bullets. It started to fire at anything moving and was about to shoot at the boy. The boy closed his eyes and Tsume and Esmeralda practically ripped it to shreds.

"Tsume, Esmeralda." The boy said.

"Esmeralda." Tsume said.

She nodded her head and dumped the machine. It exploded and one of the pieces got caught on the train so the train stopped. Tsume and the gang got the provisions inside the train and headed home. Then as they were celebrating a nobles ship came by. It was large and had these weird red markings. Esmeralda covered her ears.

"I hate that sound." Tsume said. Esmeralda nodded.

* * *

Tsume, Esmeralda, and the others were carrying provisions and kicking around cans. They were headed to their hideout when Tsume and Esmeralda stopped. Both of them looked at the wolf with the blue eyes. It started barking before Esmeralda and Tsume started to run.

* * *

"Hey Tsume, Esmeralda! Where's the fire? Can't we slow down a little? There's nobody following us." A guy shouted after they got some distance from that wolf.

"I know." Tsume said.

"Haven't we gotten enough already? I mean there's plenty to go around." One guy said.

"The provisions of the Nobles will be passing through the check point tomorrow." Esmeralda said.

"We're gonna hit 'em again?" A boy asked. Tsume glared at them and they flinched.

"Chen, Seto, you're in the advance squad." Tsume said.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Chen said.

"Yeah but...we messed up bad there last week. Security is gonna be even tighter now. We lost two of us today as it is." The boy said.

Tsume nodded at Esmeralda. She nodded back.

"Gehl, you're on standby. Anyone who isn't willing to fight should get out now." Esmeralda said before she and Tsume started to walk.

"It's a weird relationship those two have." Chen whispered.

"Why is it weird?" Gehl whispered back.

"Because Tsume doesn't let anyone get close to him besides her. They're always together and she's his right hand man. You can rule out the girlfriend thing because Tsume never seems interested in one but I wonder why Tsume can rely on her instead of us." Chen whispered.

"Maybe it's because ever since the gang started, she hasn't died or gotten a scratch once." Seto whispered. Gehl looked at Esmeralda's back and wondered why also.

* * *

They all gotten back and there was a crowd surrounding a tree's trunk.

"What is it?" Tsume demanded.

"It's a dog, but I don't think it's going to make it." One guy said.

Esmeralda and Tsume got closer. She gasped along with Tsume. 'It isn't a dog, it's a wolf!' Esmeralda thought. The wolf was white but had an extremely big gash on its thigh.

"Maybe it's worth something." One guy said.

"Maybe we can eat it." Another one said.

"I've never seen a dog this big. This sucker's huge!" Another guys said.

"That is not a dog." Everyone looked at Tsume. "Pull it out."

One of the guys hesitantly goes to pull it out. "Okay."

As he reaches the wolf awakes and suddenly attacks him. The wolf killed him. Another guy, who panics, get a modern crossbow and started to shoot at it.

The wolf avoided it, jumped and bit him on the neck. Gehl, who was standing nearby, looked at the wolf directly and started to shake. The wolf let go of the guy's neck and started to stare its golden eyes at Gehl. Esmeralda punched Gehl out of the way. The wolf looked at her as Tsume walked behind her.

"How interesting." Tsume said.

The wolf snarls at Tsume before Esmeralda and Tsume starts to back away and run with the wolf following them.

* * *

"You have a plan, Tsume?" Esmeralda asked as they were running up a pipe upwards.

"Yeah, instincts." Esmeralda stared at him, knowing what he meant.

They found a clear piece of building and both went into their wolf forms. Tsume was a gray wolf with a scar on his chest, Esmeralda was a midnight black wolf with white tips on the ears and tail. They let the wolf know they were wolves too. Tsume and Esmeralda turned back into their human forms.

"That was quite a stunt." Tsume said.

"I was protecting myself, that's all." The wolf said.

"Sure, you were protecting yourself but you shouldn't kill here." Esmeralda said to him.

"What's wrong with killing?" The wolf asked.

"I don't know what mountain you cane down from, but you're in a city now. There are rules." Tsume said.

"Rules? Is running around in the city with a pack of idiots one of the rules?" The wolf asked.

"We're only using them." Esmeralda said.

"Your rules stink like this city. What's the point of living when you're throwing away your pride?" The wolf said.

"You've got a big mouth for someone whose half dead." Tsume said.

Tsume and Esmeralda went into their wolf forms and attacked the white wolf. Tsume and the white wolf went at each other first. Esmeralda went for his throat but he saw it coming and bit her back. Tsume then bit his tail to let go of her. They were nipping at each other and the white wolf kicked hard at Esmeralda so she fainted then aimed at Tsume but he head butted him in his human form.

Esmeralda woke up. She saw that Gehl tried to attack the white wolf. The white wolf went away before she went up towards Tsume.

"You alright?" She asked before she touched the wound on his head and he automatically grabbed her hand. "I'm fine." Tsume answered, letting go of her hand.

"Are you okay, Tsume? You're bleeding." Gehl went up to touch the wound.

"Don't touch me!" Tsume shouted before getting up." And stay out of my business." Tsume started to walk away with Esmeralda following him.

"I wanted to thank you." Tsume and Esmeralda stopped walking. "You saved my life back there. I always thought that maybe you didn't care if one of your friends got killed. I guess I thought that I'd never be one of your friends." Gehl said.

"We're not friends. It's just...we're not like you people." Tsume started to walk away. Esmeralda looked at Gehl before following Tsume.

* * *

After they got some distance away, Esmeralda started to talk. "You know Tsume, you didn't have to be so cold to the kid. He really looks up to us, mostly you." She said to him.

When Tsume didn't react, Esmeralda grabbed his shirt and pulled him down slightly (she goes up towards Tsume's chin).

"What the hell?" Tsume shouted.

Esmeralda took his face in her hands and got up really close to his face. He thought he was about to kiss him so he started to move forward but she moved up to his wound and licked his wound cleaned before let his face drop. He snarled at her.

"Your wound is healed...Tsume, don't go around breaking people's hearts." Esmeralda continued to walk, leaving a dumbfounded Tsume.

* * *

Everyone from Tsume's gang was there, surveying the check point. Everyone was armed.

"Hey Tsume, have you seen Gehl?" Esmeralda asked.

Tsume shook his head 'no'. Esmeralda hates it when Tsume's cold demeanor scares someone off. Tsume gave the signal to the others across from them to get ready. Esmeralda heard someone coming to them, so she turned around and saw Gehl.

"I'm coming with you guys. I wanna fight. I can help you; just tell me what to do." Gehl said.

"Tsume." Tsume looked at Esmeralda. "Alright, but don't die." He said. Gehl smiled and their raid began.

* * *

After the raid, the people found them. They ran on pipes that led them out of the Check Point. Tsume, Esmeralda, and Gehl all rushed out. Unfortunately Gehl was slow because of the gun shooting at him. Esmeralda saw that Gehl was lagging behind. Then a gunshot near his foot caused him to lose his balance.

Esmeralda gasps. "Tsume!" She shouted. Tsume turns and Esmeralda tossed her provisions to him before she went back for Gehl.

"Esmeralda!" Tsume yelled.

Esmeralda turned into a wolf to help him up but his yell caused her to let go. Gehl falls to his death, leaving Esmeralda paralyzed. Seeing Gehl fall to his death, painful memories of her clan flashed through her head. Tsume tossed the provisions and grabbed her arm. Both of them ran out of there.

* * *

Esmeralda and Tsume are in their room near the tree. Esmeralda hasn't spoken ever since Gehl fell to his death, causing Tsume to worry.

'Is this the first time she seen someone die? No, I don't think so. Some of our team mates always die in some of our mission.' Tsume thought.

Esmeralda leaned on one of the walls and slides down. 'This is getting out of hand.'

"Listen, if this is the first time you've seen someone die then-"

"His face..." Tsume looked at her.

She had her knees to her chest and was hugging them. "His face reminded me of my fellow comrades from my clan. I let him go, let him die. I hate it when I'm not strong enough to protect someone. Just hate it."

Tsume scoffs. He sat next to her. "There's something you have to understand. People are scared of things they don't understand. He was scared of you because you changed into a wolf. People haven't seen wolves in 2 centuries. You have to understand, this is life." Tsume said.

He had a chicken and torn it in half. He showed half of it to Esmeralda. "I'm not hungry." Esmeralda said before getting up and lied down on the floor, far from Tsume.

He looked at her. Like him, she was a mystery. The only part of her past he knows is that she was a leader of a powerful wolf clan and her clan died because of her mistake. He went to the window sill and sat on it.

He started to eat before staring at her. He knew so much how it feels to lose and give up on someone you love. He walked over to her and saw that she was asleep. He smiled before he cupped her cheek in his hand. He grabbed a small pillow and a sheet. 'What are these emotions that plague me?' He thought to himself before falling asleep next to Esmeralda.

**If you want to see a picture of Esmeralda, go to my profile page and click on the link. It'll take you to my gallery of Fanfiction pictures.**


	2. Chapter 2

It was morning and Esmeralda woke up. She found herself starting at the sheet and the little pillow. Tsume was right beside her in his wolf form. When wolves faint or sleep, they transform back to their form. Esmeralda got out of 'bed' without waking Tsume. She took some provisions in her bag just to make sure if she got hungry.

She took a walk. She was getting far away from the Hideout when she saw a brown wolf with three bracelets on his right leg trying to attack crows but unfortunately it failed and went into hiding. Esmeralda giggled. The brown wolf whined. Esmeralda got closer to him.

"Well now I've seen many failed attacks but that one was just completely miserable." Esmeralda giggled again. The brown wolf whined some more. "Sorry, what's your name boy?" She held out her hand.

The wolf hesitantly came up to her. She petted him. "So you don't have a home, and you can't survive out here." She looked side to side. She reached into her bag and pulled out sausages. The wolf sniffed it curiously.

"Don't worry you can eat it." She took a bite out of it. "See?" The wolf licked it and ate.

Esmeralda petted him some more. "Poor guy." She raised her head and stood up. She looked toward the Hideout. "Sorry boy but I gotta go." She started to walk but the wolf followed her. "Sorry but my friend doesn't allow to have pets, let alone you. Take care." She ran toward the hideout.

* * *

The gang was all there and Tsume was on a ledge probably thinking about Gehl. All of them turned to Esmeralda when she came in. She felt very uneasy because they were staring at her quite viciously. She sat down next to Tsume.

"They say the nobles put a bounty on every gang in the city." One gang member said.

"Is that so?" Tsume said.

"Yeah they've already started rounding the people up and our stuff been kinda high profiled lately. We figured we're next. Maybe it's we should move on. There's a freight train pulling out at midnight. We can sneak one-" Another guy said.

"Our next raid it's gonna be tonight. Do the preparations like we always do." Esmeralda said.

"Why so you can sit back and watch?" The first guy said. Esmeralda flinched.

"Gehl's dead because of you. You let him die." Esmeralda put her head down and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Sorry pal but I ain't working with you no more. I wouldn't wanna slow you down now would I?" The guy said in a sarcastic tone.

"Suit yourself." Tsume said. He put a hand on top of Esmeralda's head and stood up. "We'll meet up at midnight get the word out."

Tsume walked away while Esmeralda stayed. They all glared at her. When she couldn't take it, she ran out of there.

* * *

Esmeralda went back to that place where she met up with that brown wolf. She stared at the ground while she was walking and failed to notice a boy with brown shoulder length hair, red long sleeved shirt, green pants, and black boots. She saw him crossing his arms behind his head and crossing his legs leaning against a wall. She just looked at him and then looked away. She walked past him and he followed her.

"Uh, um, thanks a lot for before." He said.

"Huh?" Esmeralda looked at the boy.

"For the sausages." Esmeralda still looked confused. "Uh, remember back at the alley. Well that was my dog you gave them to." He said.

"That beautiful dog belongs to you really?" Esmeralda asked.

"That beautiful? Uh yeah, yeah he's mine." He said.

"But how could you know that I fed him if you weren't there?" Esmeralda asked.

"I heard it from the lady at the store." He said while crossing his arms behind his head.

"What's his name?" She asked.

"A name?" He laughed. "The name is Toboe."

"Toboe? What an interesting name." She said.

"You think so? Thanks." He said.

"I'm Esmeralda, what's your?" She asked.

"I just said it's Toboe." He said.

'So he's the wolf huh? Alright, I'll play along' "But isn't that your dog's name?" She asked.

"Uh well, we're a lot alike so I decided to name him after myself." Toboe said.

"You're kinda weird." Esmeralda said.

"Is weird bad?" Toboe asked.

"No, it's fine with me." She said. Toboe laughed. They went to talking and Toboe seemed really happy until they ran into Tsume.

"Tsume." Esmeralda said.

"Hey, you're another one just like me." Toboe said to himself.

"Move it kid. Esmeralda, let's go." He was about to walk until all three of them came across that same blue eyed wolf. There was a drunken man next to it with a bottle. He had on a gray hat with a dirty beige coat.

"Hm you found something'?" He asked the blue eyed wolf. He looked at the group. Tsume and Esmeralda jumped out of the way. Toboe stayed not knowing there was trouble. The man dropped the bottle and pulled out a rifle out of his coat. He reloaded it and went toward Toboe. Toboe was scared so he couldn't move.

"Boy, you're not a boy." He started to walk over to Toboe then aimed. Esmeralda came down and disarmed him. She avoided a bite from the blue wolf.

"Jump." She said to Toboe.

"Huh?"

"Hurry up!" She shouted at him.

"I was getting ready to." Toboe said. Both of them jumped up the building out of harm's way.

* * *

Tsume and Esmeralda were heading out to the hideout but Toboe was following them.

"Who the heck was that? And what's up with his dog?" Toboe said.

"I have no idea." Tsume said.

"Hey you're Tsume right! This is a first for me I've never met a wolf, I mean other than myself. I heard rumors about you from the crows though. They say that you make friends with the humans and run wild with them. So if you're Tsume then you must be his partner Esmeralda. The crows also talk about you, but they say that you're a wolf also..." Toboe said.

"You heard wrong. I don't have friends." Tsume said.

"But if you don't have friends then why do you let Esmeralda tagged along with you all the time? The crows say that you two look like mates." Toboe said, causing Esmeralda to giggle.

"I'm an exception..." Esmeralda said.

"You guys are not really mates right?" Toboe asked.

"No, we're not." Esmeralda.

"Well anyway, I'm Toboe. You know what I've been living with humans my whole life too."

"Just get lost will ya? I'm getting pissed off and that only happens when I'm around idiots." Tsume said.

"But can't I come with you?" Toboe asked.

"No. You can't." Tsume answered before walking away. Esmeralda looked at Toboe with an 'I'm sorry' look before she went to Tsume's side. When she looked back, Toboe was gone.

"Tsume, do you have to be harsh?" She asked, but didn't receive an answer. 'Tsume can be so cold sometimes, but why does he let me be around him and not the others? I'll never understand him.' Esmeralda stopped and jumped off somewhere to look for Toboe.

She came onto a place where there were a lot of guys. She took one whiff and felt disgusted. She saw Toboe walk into a corner with some guys following him.

"Well now, what do we have here?"

"It's a boy, can we kill him?" Toboe was shaking in fear not knowing what to do.

"Hey!" The men turned around. There were about 8 of them.

"You..." Esmeralda charged at one of them. "Leave." She punched him in the gut. "Him." She kicked another where the sun don't shine. "Alone!"

"Get her!" All of them charged at once. She turned into her wolf form and started to kill them off one by one. She was aiming for their necks or ribs whenever she gets near one of them. One of them had a shotgun and Toboe saw it. The guy aimed the gun at Esmeralda. Toboe transformed into his wolf form and killed him. When all the guys were dead, Toboe realized he killed a guy and began to howl.

"Toboe..." Esmeralda mumbled.

Toboe continued to howl and someone's footsteps were Tsume's. He grabbed Toboe and took him away with Esmeralda following him.

"Esmeralda, what the hell were you doing?" Tsume shouted. Toboe stopped crying.

"I was only helping Toboe!" She shouted back.

Tsume grabbed her shirt. "Don't you know someone could've seen you? Damn it, Esmeralda you're smarter than that! I don't want you to go into your wolf form unless it's an emergency, do you understand?" Tsume shouted.

Esmeralda held her eyes down. "...I understand." Esmeralda said.

"Good. Come on." Tsume said to the both of them.

* * *

They stayed in his room with Tsume sitting in the window and Esmeralda sitting beside Toboe.

"I never meant to kill anything." Tsume and Esmeralda listened to Toboe. "Granny, she...she was all alone at the entrance to the dome and she was so nice to me. She said I was so little and my eyes had barely opened. She gave these to me." He raised his arm that had three bracelets. "And we'd lived together ever since." Toboe said.

"You mean she kept you as a pet. That human tamed you. You were nothing more than an obedient dog." Tsume started.

"I wasn't!" Toboe shouted. "I-I only, I wanted to protect, but she still..."

"She still threw you out?" Tsume asked.

"She still died." Toboe said. "She died." Toboe wrapped his arms around himself and buried his head in his arms before he started to cry. "I...I let her die."

Esmeralda was at the breaking point of her tears coming out until she heard someone coming. Tsume went to the door and opened it to reveal Seto.

"Seto." Tsume said.

"No one is gonna come." Seto said.

"The why are you here?" Esmeralda asked while standing next to Tsume.

"I'm leaving after this. Tsume, you and Esmeralda are just too different from the rest of us." Seto walked away.

Then Tsume and Esmeralda heard a small noble ship up ahead. "Something is going to happen." Tsume and Toboe looked her. "I can feel it."


	3. Chapter 3

A high pitched screech reached the hideout. Toboe and Esmeralda quickly clamped their ears. Toboe started to shout while Esmeralda started to groan in pain.

"Cut it out." Tsume said. Toboe started to yell louder. "Toboe, be quite! Just shut up!" Tsume said.

The screeching went on for a minute until it stopped. For a minute everything was silent. Esmeralda unclamped her ears and looked over to Toboe who still had his ears clamped. Tsume walked over from the doorway to Toboe.

"Hey." Tsume said, but Toboe didn't stir. "Hey." Tsume said again, this time kicking Toboe lightly. Toboe gave a little gasp and unclamped his ears. "Snap out of it would ya?"

"Is it...it's gone." Toboe said. "You felt that, didn't you? You heard it right?" He asked Tsume. He just stared at him. Toboe wrapped his arms around his legs and looked down. "Such a sad voice."

"It was a machine, that's all. Probably the dying sounds of some old robot breaking down." Tsume said. Toboe just stared at him and looked down.

"Still, it didn't seem like it." Esmeralda said. Toboe and Tsume looked towards her. She bit her thumb and thought, 'Could it be her...'

"Anyway, enough thinking about what made that sound. Let's just get some rest." Tsume said. He lied down on the floor, getting ready to sleep. Toboe is still deep in thought and Esmeralda was too.

'No use thinking about it if I'm going to lose sleep over it.' Esmeralda thought before walking towards Tsume and lied down next to him. Toboe noticed.

"You two sleep together?" Toboe asked.

"Yeah, sometimes it gets cold at night and it's better to sleep with body heat than a simple blanket." Esmeralda said before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"Oh." Toboe lied down and went to sleep as well.

* * *

Esmeralda was the first one to wake up while Tsume and Toboe were asleep in their wolf forms. She went to their provisions and grabbed a box of food. Inside were hamburgers. She left it on the floor and left for a walk.

As she was walking, she was thinking about the sound last night. For a moment, a pair of red eyes appeared in her head. She stopped and looked around, but nobody was around her. She brought her hand up to her head.

'What is wrong with me? Those eyes...' Again the eyes appeared and Esmeralda was hit with a huge headache. She slowly sank to floor holding her head. 'Get out, get out, please.' She told the image.

Suddenly, she heard a pleasant voice like an angel which only said one word, "Cheza." Esmeralda opened her eyes, not knowing they were closed, and found herself lying on the ground. She got up on her feet and went back toward the hideout.

* * *

When she got Tsume's room, she found him at the window but Toboe was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Toboe?" She asked.

"Who knows?" He answered coldly.

Esmeralda placed her hands on her hips. "Alright Tsume, what did you do?" She asked him.

"I told him to beat it. A kid like him doesn't understand the real world." Tsume answered.

"Tsume, Toboe doesn't know how to survive out there." She said while trying to keep her cool.

"So what. Maybe this experience will show him what the real world is all about."

"He'll die out there!" She shouted.

"I don't care!" Tsume yelled before looking out the window. Esmeralda was taken back.

"Tsume..." She started.

"I don't need anyone; I'm fine on my own. I don't need friends." Tsume said. Esmeralda's eyes widen a bit and started to get wet.

"If you say so, then I guess you don't need me anymore." She said before walking out of the room. Tsume looked at the door where Esmeralda walked out.

'Good going Tsume, you've just lost the only friend you ever had.' He thought to himself and glared outside the window.

After a couple minutes, he got off the window and went to look for Esmeralda. He put his sunglasses on and walked out. Behind him near the tree, one of his partners looks over to a man who was well dressed. With the man were three police men. The police ran towards Tsume. Tsume looked back and for a second the men were afraid but still charged at him. Tsume ran inhuman speed past them over to the other man and knocked him out. Seto tried to run away, but Tsume jumped in front of him.

"Tsume." Seto, who was scared, said. Tsume grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him to the floor. He grabbed a knife and put it to his neck.

"You sold me out." Tsume said bluntly.

"They caught us, when we tried to sneak on the train. We couldn't just let you and Esmeralda get away scot-free." He said before Tsume smiled.

"You damn humans." Tsume said. His partner gasped and the police came back with guns. Tsume let go of him and started to run. He jumped on one of the roofs and then jumped onto a higher one. The humans from the bottom level gasped. Tsume took one look at them before he went on his way.

* * *

"Tsume can be such an idiot sometimes." Esmeralda whispered to herself while wiping away tears from her eyes. 'Damn him.'

She heard some barks coming from an ally. She saw Toboe drive on the crows and eat from a dumpster. She was about to call him when a manhole cover started to shake. A boy with wild light brown hair and red-amber eyes came up.

"Uh-oh, must've taken a wrong turn." He said and noticed Toboe, but didn't see Esmeralda because she hid behind a wall. "Hey, it's one of our own!" He said happily before someone pushed him up.

"Move it will ya?" The boy who pushed the other boy up had dark brown hair with blue eyes. He had on a brown sweater, white shirt underneath, and dark blue jeans. The other boy had a yellow sweater with a black stripe on the arm, light blue jeans, and collar loose around his neck. "That's the last time I trust your nose." The dark-haired boy said.

"Well anyone's nose will go numb after a night in that stink hole." The other boy said.

"You guys, no way, y-your..." Toboe started. The dark haired one looked over to him and then to the other side where Esmeralda was. "Esmeralda..." Toboe said.

"It's you." The dark haired one started.

Esmeralda left out a breath of relief before some police men came from the other side of the wall with guns. They got off one shot that missed. Esmeralda gasped before all of them started to run away. They went into a thin alleyway, but Toboe was still in his wolf form. The police were getting closer, so Toboe reverted back into his human form.

"Come on!" The light-haired boy said from one of the pipes sticking from the wall. Toboe went over inside the pipe. All four of them went down into the sewers.

* * *

"I told you I hate smelly places." The light-haired one said as they were running. They found a ledge where they could walk on while Toboe was panting. "Hey runt, what's eating you?" He asked.

"I'm not a runt. My name's Toboe." He said.

"What about you beautiful?" He asked Esmeralda.

"Esmeralda." She said while following them into another passage.

"That's cool. Well I'm Hige and this here's Kiba." Hige said.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Toboe asked.

"Where do you think? To the exit of course." Hige said.

"The exit?" Esmeralda asked.

"We're leaving town." Kiba answered.

"You're leaving town? Wha-what else are you gonna go?" Toboe asked.

"To paradise." Kiba said.

'Paradise?' Esmeralda thought.

"Paradise?" Toboe asked out loud and stopped. "Hey guys, do you know Tsume?" He asked them.

"...Tsume..." Kiba whispered.

Hige looked up thinking. "Nope never heard of him." Hige said.

"Is he the one with the scar on his chest?" Kiba asked.

"He is." Esmeralda answered with anger in her voice. Toboe gave her a questioned glance.

Kiba looked at Esmeralda. "Why aren't you with him? He is you friend, isn't he?" Kiba asked.

Esmeralda turned her head away to the left, having her hair cover her face. "Let's just say he's an idiot." She answered.

"Anyway, what about him?" Kiba asked Toboe.

"Well, he's one of us so I thought he might wanna leave too." Toboe said quietly.

"Well, I don't know him. Where is he? Hiding out some place?" Hige asked Toboe and Esmeralda.

"I don't know, we got split up." Toboe answered.

Esmeralda smelt a scent of blood, Tsume's blood.

"Sorry pal, it's too late to go back for him now." Hige said while Esmeralda checked out Tsume's blood near one of the manhole's. "So what, is he like a friend of yours?" Hige asked.

"No, he's not! He isn't my friend..." Toboe said quietly.

"So ditch him already." Hige said, walking on. "Shake a leg, runt."

"That's Toboe." He said.

Esmeralda was still looking at the blood. "You should go look for him." Kiba said before Esmeralda scoffed. "I don't have to; he can take care of himself." She said walking past Kiba.

However, he grabs her arm which caused Esmeralda to growl at him. "I know you're worried about him, don't try to hide it. Go to him." Truthfully, Esmeralda was worried about Tsume and went to the stairs leading the way out.

"Kiba, will we see each other again?" She asked.

"I don't know." He said. She turned to him and smile.

"Just don't die." She said before she went her way.

* * *

Tsume was back at the hideout, with his arm bleeding. It was getting closer to night, as the light faded. He heard the door opening and saw Esmeralda in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" Tsume asked.

She kept quiet and kneeled down beside him. She took his arm and licked his wound as he growled. "If you don't clean it, it'll get infected." She said.

"I don't care." Tsume said.

She sighed. "I swear you are the most hard-headed, stubborn person I know." She said before sitting down next to him.

"And you are the most tenacious wolf I've ever known." Tsume said while smiling.

She smiled back. "But seriously, you need to look at that wound. I'm going over to-"

The door opened and Kiba came in. Tsume stood on his feet.

"What a scrap heap. Why the hell did you bring us here?" Hige asked.

"Tsume, Esmeralda!" Toboe said.

"You!" Tsume said.

"Wha-hey, is this him?" Hige asked Toboe.

"I can smell the blood from your wound." Kiba said.

"What?" Tsume asked.

"I smelt it all the way here from town."

"And you're gonna nurse me back to health? Well I don't need your help." Tsume said.

"Tsume." Esmeralda scolded.

"Tsume, look I...We're leaving the city. I really think you should come with us. Esmeralda, you should come too." Toboe explained.

"And just where is this merry band of yours going?" Tsume asked.

"To paradise." Kiba answered.

"Huh, you're kidding me. You're going with them because you believe in that crap."

"I don't know but if we stay here, we'll have to spend the rest of our lives in hiding or worse. We just can't live with the humans anymore and survive." Toboe said.

"Toboe..." Esmeralda said quietly.

"Look I hate to interrupt, but a nasty stink is headed this way." Hige said.

"We're surrounded." Esmeralda said.

"Let me ask you, why did you guys come to this city?" Kiba said. Tsume, Hige, and Esmeralda looked out at the window while Toboe was looking at the ground. "It was because of the flower scent, wasn't it? Well it's gone now there's no reason to stay."

"The flower has nothing to do with it. I'm here because I belong." Tsume answered.

"I can see that, this city is a dump." Kiba said.

Tsume looked from the window to Kiba with anger in his eyes. "I still have a score to settle with you." Tsume walked towards Kiba.

"We don't have time for this." Hige exclaimed.

"The last time we meet you said something about how our pride wouldn't allow you to pass as a human. Well, you look pretty human now, where'd your pride go?" Tsume taunted.

"Nowhere. Nothing has changed." Kiba said.

"Do you have the slightest idea of what leaving the city would mean?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yeah."

"You'll just die." Tsume said while glaring at Kiba.

"Possibly, everyone is going to die. It's a natural part of like, but if life has no purpose, you're dead already." Kiba said. They stared at each other until intense light filled the room. The police began to shooting at the room.

They got out and were running on the pipes, leading out of the room while the police still shot at them. A bullet caused Toboe to loose balance and he fell but caught another pipe. Esmeralda saw this and went over to Toboe, reverting back into her wolf form and helped him up. "Thank you." Toboe said.

She nodded and was going to follow Tsume when Toboe caught her hand.

"Wha-"

"You'll come with us, right?" He asked.

"Toboe, I-"

The police started to shoot at them again and they ran. As they ran across the pipes, Esmeralda started to follow Tsume.

"Esmeralda!" Toboe shouted.

She was gone with Tsume. The others and Toboe kept running away and leap through pillars until Kiba stopped.

"What the hell are you stopping for?" Hige asked. Kiba kept quiet and looked over to a small entrance down below.

Suddenly, Esmeralda and Tsume came out running. "Tsume! Esmeralda!" Toboe yelled gladly. They both stopped.

"This way!" Kiba shouted as more shots were fired. There were pillars and a wall in which they jumped over and there was a hole in the dome. There was a small spot in which they could jump into. Hige and Kiba jumped first. Toboe stopped, hesitating.

"Jump already!" Hige shouted below.

"I was getting ready to alright!" Toboe shouted back.

"Move it." Tsume said before kicking him off.

A shot rang off, causing both of them to look back. An old man was shooting at them but another younger man was holding him off. Tsume and Esmeralda look back down.

"Are you scared?" Kiba asked Tsume.

"Yeah, you wish." Tsume said. He grabbed Esmeralda's hand and they jumped down together. They ran until they were far away from the dome when Tsume stopped to look back. Esmeralda stopped with him.

"Tsume?" She asked. Tsume looked back at her and patted her head. "Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

It's been days since Esmeralda and the others left the town. They've been running and running and hadn't eaten for days. Right now they were resting in a cave on a snowy weather.

"I'm so hungry." Toboe said.

"You could say that again." Hige said.

"How long has it been we've gone off without food?"

"I'd say about three days."

"We've gone for that long?"

"Yeah, we have."

"I wonder how long we can go without food?"

"Probably another three days."

"Would you guys shut up? It's only been three stupid days." Tsume said.

"Tsume, stop it. It's not their fault. We hadn't eaten anything since we've left the city." Esmeralda said.

"If you hold the moonlight to your mouth then you won't be that hungry. You should be able to last longer. I've traveled on it for a month." Kiba said.

"Did you say a whole month?!" Hige exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"He's right. I've done that before and I went without eating for about two months." Esmeralda said it as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Two months?"

"How can you do?" Toboe asked.

"Because I was one of the lucky ones as my old man said. Before any of you asked, I rather not talk about him right now." Esmeralda said before she turned her head to the side.

"The snow will soon fade away and when it foes, the moon will come out." Kiba said.

"Or we can just eat ourselves in order." Tsume said while Esmeralda turned her head towards him.

"First to go will be the weakest kid and then the fat one."

"Why did you leave out Kiba and Esmeralda?" Toboe asked.

"This guy is just plain inedible and Esmeralda is a lot stronger than she looks." Tsume said.

"I know you guys are hungry, but I don't think you guys should fight. It's not the right time." Esmeralda said before Hige left the cave. Esmeralda thinks Hige smelled something cause of the smile he had on his face.

* * *

All of them followed Hige to a mountain with a dead deer in front of them. "I wonder where it came from?" Toboe wondered.

"You're going to eat that?" Tsume asked.

"And you're not?" Hige said before everyone took a bite out of the dead deer except for Esmeralda and Tsume.

"This is pretty good but it's harder than a hamburger though. Come on, Tsume, Esmeralda, have some. We still have a long way to go." Toboe said.

"Long way? Where exactly would that be? Paradise? Or where the flower scent is?" Tsume asked.

"Tsume..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"I wonder what paradise looks like." Toboe wondered.

"It's place full of flowers and food! There are also some beautiful babes like Esmeralda here." Hige said. Esmeralda cleared her throat.

"Really?" Toboe asked with excitement in his eyes.

"Yeah, it would be nice if it was that is." Hige sighed.

"Thought so." Esmeralda said.

"Paradise is nothing but a mere rumor. We don't know if it exists. It's probably just somebody's dream." Tsume said.

"Then why did you come along?"

"We won't know until we find it." Toboe said.

"Paradise would be a good place for a new home better than that city of humans." Esmeralda said.

"How far are you three going to trust this guy?" Tsume asked.

"I trust him, Tsume." Esmeralda said.

"How far are you willing to go, following this guy to a place that doesn't exist?" Tsume snapped at Esmeralda.

"So what if paradise doesn't exist, I still trust Kiba."

"I can't take this anymore. Do whatever you want. I'm leaving." Tsume walked away.

"And just where are you planning to go Tsume?" Esmeralda asked.

"I'll go look for hell or something."

"Do as you wish." Kiba said.

"Kiba." Esmeralda looked at Kiba.

"Your 'rules won't work with us."

"People like you who think they've seen everything piss me off!" Tsume shouted.

"Tsume..." Esmeralda stared at Tsume now.

"But Tsume...we've finally became friends." Toboe said.

"Go play house on your own." Tsume said while walking away.

"Jeez, he's the most immature out of all of us." Hige said.

"But I like Tsume." Toboe mumbled. Esmeralda looked at Toboe before walking away.

"Esmeralda, where are you going?"

"I don't know about you guys but I'm going after him."

"Are you sure?" She stopped and looked back. "Yeah. Don't worry Toboe, I'll be back with Tsume and that's a promise."

"Ok then..." Toboe said with a smile.

"See you guys in a while." Esmeralda ran after Tsume.

* * *

After a minute or so, Esmeralda finally caught up to him. "Tsume! Wait up!" Tsume stopped and turned around.

"What do you want?"

"Tsume, why are you so angry? Come back with us."

"Just shut up."

"Tsume, you know as well as I do that splitting up is dangerous."

"We've been separated before."

"But Tsume..."

"Shut up and don't follow me!" Tsume ran off.

"Why is he always stubborn I'll never know?" Esmeralda mumbled to herself before running after him.

However this time, he had disappeared. She tried to call out his name but she got no response. Soon enough, she stepped on something weird. She looked down to see that it was a bullet she stepped on. 'Where am I anyways? I've been so caught up to find Tsume that I don't even know where I am.' She thought while looking around an abandon town.

The town was all torn up and had a weird smell. Esmeralda continued to call his name but still got no response. "If he's not responding, then he must be hiding." She said before calling his name one more time. She heard a response and it wasn't Tsume. She heard gunshots and it was heading towards her. She tried to move away, but she was pushed by someone.

She turned around and saw Tsume. 'He pushed me...to save me...' Esmeralda thought with her eyes widen when she saw that he got shot on the leg. "Tsume!"

"I'm fine run!" They ran to get away from the thing that shot Tsume. Esmeralda looked at his leg and he was bleeding a lot.

"Tsume, are you alright?"

"Don't get close!"

They reached to the end of the road and they knew that they have to jump down. It was a pretty high jump but Esmeralda was confidante that she'll make it. The machine that shot Tsume was right behind them. The machine started to shoot them but missed them. Tsume grabbed Esmeralda's hand and jumped down.

For a brief second, when Tsume grabbed her hand, Esmeralda felt weird and different. 'What am I thinking? Now's not a good time to think of stuff like this.' She thought.

The machine started to shoot at them again before they ran for cover. "Is that thing still there?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yeah. Stay quiet." Soon the machine was gone for now and Tsume was in pain.

Esmeralda gasped."Tsume...your leg."

"Don't worry about that. Damn, it stinks so much in here."

"It reeks of dead bodies and metal."

A few minutes later, they got up and started walking. 'What is this feeling I have towards Tsume? Whatever, I should just shrug it off.' Esmeralda thought to herself.

"Run."

"Huh? Why?"

"Cause we're being followed by the thing again."

"I see."

They ran as fast as they can. There was a small icy bridge and from the looks of it, it doesn't seen safe but it's the only way to get across. When they were half way across the bridge. The machine shot a harpoon and it hit the bridge. The bridge broke and Tsume and Esmeralda fell to the bottom of the cliff. Esmeralda managed to stay still when she reached to the bottom but when she looked around for Tsume, he was knocked out. She heard the machine moving, so she took Tsume to hide. She looked around for a hiding spot and spotted a cave. She quickly grabbed Tsume and ran to the cave.

"I don't think the machine will find us here." Esmeralda said as she gently lay Tsume down. "All I can do is hope that he isn't dead." She looked at his wound and it looked serious. Esmeralda tried to stop the bleeding by licking it.

When she was done, she pulled out a piece of cloth from her pocket and wrapped it around his leg. 'I hope he's alright.'

She looked at the scar on his chest. 'I wonder how Tsume got that scar. Could it be the same thing happened to him as it did to me?' She thought while gently brushing the scar that was hiding in her hair. Her scar went from the bottom of her eyebrow to the top of her cheek. She moved her hand from her scar to Tsume's scar, but Tsume caught her hand before she can touch it.

"Don't touch me." Tsume said.

"I'm sorry..."

"Where's the machine?"

"I'm not sure. I think we lost it somehow."

Tsume just went back to lying down and turned around. "So Tsume, mind telling me how did you get that scar on your chest?" But he just ignored and turned around. 'I guess that wasn't a good question to ask.'

"I think Kiba and Hige are worrying about us." Esmeralda said.

"I don't trust anyone and so I don't give my trust to anyone either. That's the most convenient way to live."

"I trust you Tsume." After she said that, Tsume turned away from her.

Suddenly, they heard the machine coming. "We need to leave now."

"But Tsume your leg...you're overexerting...you'll die."

"If that's the case then use me as bait."

"Tsume, don't be an idiot...I'll be the bait, giving you time to run away."

"Don't!"

"Tsume...trust me." Esmeralda left the cave first to distract the machine. But the machine went after Tsume soon enough.

"This is bad." Esmeralda said while trying to go back but got hit by some ice. She managed to block them and the next thing she saw the machine in front of Tsume. She ran towards Tsume to save him.

The machine was about to shoot him but Kiba came and attacked the machine. Esmeralda ran towards Tsume to see if he was alright.

"Tsume!" Esmeralda shouted.

"I'm alright."

"Hey Tsume! Esmeralda! This way!" Hige called out.

Esmeralda grabbed Tsume to help him walk and followed Hige. "Esmeralda! Tsume! Are you guys alright?" Toboe asked.

"Yea, we're okay." Esmeralda said.

"Tsume, your leg." Toboe noticed the cloth on Tsume's leg.

"It's nothing." Tsume said.

* * *

Kiba came back from attacking the machine. "Are you alright?" Hige asked.

"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about." Kiba replied.

"For a second, I thought you two wouldn't come back." Toboe said.

"Toboe, I told you that I would come back to you guys with Tsume with me. I never break my promises." Esmeralda said to him.

"I never ask for this. For what reason did you have to go that far? It better not be because we're friends." Tsume said.

"It was simply instincts." Kiba said.

Tsume go up and walked away. Esmeralda came by him to help him. Kiba, Toboe, and Hige followed them. And now, they are continuing on their journey to paradise. 'I wonder what's going to happen once we get to paradise.' Esmeralda thought to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

The wolf pack has been running for days again. They were in a snowy place; it was good news for them that it wasn't snowing. Right now, they're resting and talking, mostly Toboe.

"I dreamt that I made it to paradise. It was amazing. The flowers were red, blue, and many other colors. There were lunar flowers too!" Toboe said.

"Have you ever seen one for real?" Hige asked.

"No, but Granny was in there too and she made delicious food for us."

"So you plan to be fed by humans even in paradise?" Tsume asked.

"That is a nice dream...all except for the humans being in it." Esmeralda said.

"Esmeralda, why do you hate humans so much?" Toboe asked.

"I rather not talk about it."

"Come on, it mustn't be that bad. Why you hate humans?" Hige asked.

"I just don't like them..."

"Esmeralda, are you sure?"

"Hey if she doesn't like humans then leave her alone." Tsume told them.

"Tsume..." Esmeralda was shocked that Tsume stood up for her. 'Maybe he did that because he was annoyed by them asking me those questions.' She thought to herself.

"You guys are annoying me with those stupid questions." He said.

'Score one for me.'

Everyone was quiet and continued their journey. It started to snow so they had to walk. They walked up a big snowy hill and when they reached up to the top, they saw a sea and a long narrow bridge for them to cross. Everyone started to cross the bridge in silence until Kiba broke the silence.

"I can just barley smell the lunar flower." He said.

Esmeralda smelled the air before she said, "I smell it too."

"Maybe paradise is just over this bridge!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Maybe." Esmeralda mumbled. Everyone started to run, leaving her behind. She laughed a bit. 'They act like little pups getting a toy.' She started to run and caught up to them.

* * *

They were halfway across the bridge and saw a little town. They continued to run and when they arrived, the town looked a bit empty. Everyone jumped over the fences and couldn't smell any flower scent around them.

"All I smell is stinky old gasoline." Hige said while covering his nose.

"This town feels empty even though I can sense people living in this town." Esmeralda said while looking around.

"This town had nothing." Tsume added.

They started to walk around the town and Esmeralda started to hear and smell people hiding from them. 'Stupid humans.' She thought to herself.

"Are they afraid of us?" Toboe asked.

"Probably. It's rare to see people like us around here." She answered.

"What's supposed to be in a place like this?" Tsume asked.

"This doesn't seem like paradise." She replied.

They continued to walk around the town for a while and found a group of wolves and one woman. "Where are you from?" One of the men asked.

"We're from the village up north." Kiba answered.

"What is your business here?"

"We're just passing by." Esmeralda answered.

"What would we want in a worn down place like this?" Tsume added.

"Where are you headed?"

"To paradise!" Once Toboe said that, all the other wolves laughed except for the woman. "Why are they laughing?" Toboe wondered.

"These guys don't know of paradise." Kiba answered.

"Oh we know where it is." The man said.

"What?" Esmeralda wondered.

"It's just a legend." A different man said.

"A legend?" Toboe asked.

"You won't find paradise anywhere in this world."

"And why is that?" Kiba asked.

"We've already been there and seen it too." Kiba and his group were all shocked. "It wasn't really a paradise. It was hell."

"Just as I thought." Tsume said.

"You guys will soon understand that you'd be better off not looking for paradise. Now scram. There's bound to be a place suitable for you to live in."

Esmeralda just walked away. 'I don't want to hear that guy's nonsense. Well, I kinda believe in paradise but at the same time...I don't want to go there.' She sighed. "I might as well go back to my old home." She mumbled to herself.

* * *

"Are they kidding with me? To think I've been laughed at by a bunch of miserable geezers." Tsume said with anger.

"Aren't you just like them in a way?" Hige asked.

"What did you say?"

"Oh no I mean..."

"He is saying to not end up like them." Esmeralda said, saving Hige from getting his butt kicked by Tsume.

"I don't like this town...even though there are wolves here, but it's still cold though." Toboe said.

"It'll be better for us to 'scram' as the guy said." Tsume suggested.

"And then where do we go? There's something here. There are a bunch of wolves here after all. There must be some kind of clue." Kiba said.

They just continued walking. After a few hours of walking, they just sat at a ledge of the pier in silence until Hige's stomach growled.

"Who was that?" Hige asked while looking around.

"Idiot." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Maybe it was me." Hige said until Tsume's stomach growled. "That one was Tsume." Hige said after he pointed at Tsume.

"Shut up."

"I wonder how those guys can survive in a place like this." Hige wondered.

"I can't walk anymore." Toboe complained.

"I guess we'll just have to sleep somewhere for the night." Hige suggested. Tsume stood up first and started to walk away. Following him was Kiba, Esmeralda, and Toboe. "Where are you guys going?" Hige asked. They just ignored him and continued walking. "Hey, wait for me!" Hige caught up to them.

* * *

They walked into a cemetery and it was full of graves. "This will be a good place to stay for the night." Tsume said.

"There doesn't seem to be food anywhere." Hige said.

"This place seems creepy." Toboe complained.

"Well, we have no choice but to stay here. It's not like there's gonna be zombies or something." Esmeralda said. "Yea, but I still think it's creepy." Toboe said.

They walked in the graveyard to look for a spot to rest. So far, there were only gravestones and more gravestones.

"Did you hear something weird?" Toboe asked while looking around.

"Don't get scared so easily!" Tsume shouted.

There was a huge hole in front of Esmeralda, so she looked in and a dead looking wolf popped out of nowhere. She wasn't scared but Toboe and Hige were. "Guys, he's still alive." She said.

"You really scared me there. What are you doing there Gramps?" Hige asked.

"I was just digging my own hole." Gramps said.

"Your own hole?" Esmeralda asked.

"Are you digging a grave?" Kiba asked him.

"When you get to my age, you'll know when you're going to die."

"Then shouldn't you just get on with it?" Tsume said.

"I thought I was going to die..."

"Toboe, don't say such things." Esmeralda said while clutching her fist for a while until she released her grip.

"Gramps, are there any lunar flowers here?" Kiba asked.

"This place right here is the flower field." Gramps said.

"What?" Esmeralda exclaimed.

"A long time ago...they flourished all over this island. There isn't a single one now because they have all been pulled out." He explained.

"A story of the past, eh?" Hige said.

"What color was the flower?" Toboe asked.

"Color...well...it was the color of the moon." Gramps answered.

"Gramps, have you been to paradise?" Esmeralda asked.

"It's a place every wolf dreams of going...I've tried going there."

"How?" Toboe asked.

Gramps got out of his hole and walked ahead. They followed him to see his answer. "There, that's the entrance." Gramps pointed to a small looking underground cave but was blocked with wood.

"It stinks." Hige complained.

"It reeks of death." Esmeralda added.

"I thought it would be some place nicer." Toboe said.

Kiba tried to get in, but was stopped by gramps. "Don't go."

"Huh?" Esmeralda was confused.

"Many young wolves tried through there but none have reached to paradise." He explained.

"They all died?" She asked.

"And those who came back here have no choice but to stay here just like us."

Esmeralda heard footsteps behind her. She looked to see it was the same man who wanted them to leave. "Daisho, that's enough for today. We have work to do tomorrow."

"I see. Well, I've dug enough." Gramps said.

"Is this the road to paradise that you were talking about?" Kiba asked.

"I told you a place like that don't exist." He said.

"Zari." Gramps called out.

"If you do anything like steal food from us...I won't go easy on you. Hurry up and leave before morning comes!" After that, Zari and Gramps left while Kiba and the others walked in the opposite way.

* * *

They finally found a place to rest and as Esmeralda looked around, she feeling a bad aura coming from Kiba. 'I wonder if he's mad at Zari?' She wondered.

"Do you still believe in it?" Tsume asked Kiba.

"In what?"

"There's no such thing as paradise. They claimed that there isn't one even though they went there."

"That must have not been the real one."

"Where does that confidence of yours come from? It's all just nonsense. There's no guarantee that we'll ever reach there. This whole journey is stupid."

"Tsume, knock it off. You'll get hungrier if you're angry." Esmeralda said.

"I don't mind aging here and dying here too. Maybe, I'll go dig a hole like Gramps." Tsume said.

"Tsume..."

"It's not that I'm confident...I don't really understand either...it's just crying out to me...'I want to go there...I want to find out' and so I've been running. There's no way I can live without believing in it." Kiba explained.

"Kiba..." Esmeralda said before she smelled food and a scent from a different person. She looked to see the same woman from the pack of wolves.

"Are you guys hungry?" The woman asked.

"Yes, we are! You seem to know us well" Hige exclaimed.

"Hige you're an idiot." Esmeralda mumbled with her left eye twitching. Kiba left the group with Toboe following him.

"Where are they going?" She asked.

"Just let them be. Thanks for the food." Hige said causally.

"You two should eat too." The woman said.

"I'm not that hungry..." Esmeralda said.

"Hmph."

"Come on, Tsume. Just eat. Don't give that serious look. We don't know when our next meal is after all." Hige said.

"Didn't you hear me? The journey is over." Tsume said.

"Tsume, what are you talking about?" Esmeralda asked.

"There's no place to journey to...it's all over."

"What do you think Miss..."

"My names Corr."

"Corr..." Hige said.

'What's with Hige and women?' Esmeralda wondered.

"It would be good if you guys stay here forever." Corr said.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Hige said.

"But..."

"You guys, Kiba just left on his own." Toboe said after he came back. Tsume stood up and left.

"Tsume, where are you going?" Esmeralda asked him.

"You guys don't get what I'm saying." Tsume said as he walked away.

"Tsume left too! Should we go after Tsume and Kiba?" Toboe asked.

"No, just let them be. This place is also pretty nice." Hige said.

"I'm going after Tsume." Toboe said.

"Actually Toboe, let me go after him." Esmeralda stopped him. "Oh ok."

"Stay with Hige and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Man, I won't." Hige said while lying down on his back.

"Alright." Toboe said before Esmeralda ran after Tsume.

* * *

'I don't know why but I get these weird feelings every time I'm with Tsume. I don't know what these feelings are but I should find out soon.' She found Tsume and stopped him. "Tsume, where are you going? If we split up right now, we won't see each other again." She said.

"I don't care."

Esmeralda sighed. "Fine then." After saying that, she left him and went back to where Hige and Toboe were. When she got back, Hige, Toboe, and Corr were still there but no sign of Kiba. "Kiba didn't come back?" She asked.

"Nope, but boy am I full." Hige said while rubbing his belly.

"You pig."

"I thought this town is all crumpled up but where did you get the food?" Hige asked Corr.

"If you guys want to know...come to the station in the morning." Corr said.

"Station?" Esmeralda wondered.

"Will I get something there?" Hige asked.

"Yeah, you'll see something quite interesting." Corr said before she left, leaving them curious about the station.

"Hey, Hige...Hige?" Esmeralda turned around to find Hige sleeping.

"Esmeralda, I'm going to Tsume." Toboe said.

"Why?"

"I'm worried."

She sighed before saying, "Fine, then go."

"I'll meet you at the station tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah." Toboe left. Esmeralda sat down on the ground before turning to her right side. 'I wonder...does our journey to paradise end here?' She asked herself before falling asleep.

* * *

When morning came, Esmeralda and Hige went to the station. There was still no sign of Kiba, but Esmeralda knew that Toboe and Tsume were already at the station.

"Hey Esmeralda, can I ask you something?" Hige asked.

"What is it?"

"Do you like Tsume?"

"Hmm? Why would you ask that?"

"Cause by the looks of it, I think you do."

"No, I don't. We've been partners when it comes to stealing, but that's all."

"You're probably just confuse."

"What about you? Do you like Corr?"

"No. She's older than me even though she is pretty."

"You idiot."

"Look, there's the station! I hope there is more food!"

"Hige, sometimes I wonder if you're more of a pig than a wolf."

They ran inside the station and saw Toboe and Tsume sleeping on a bench. Esmeralda walked up to them and they woke up. Toboe saw the both of them coming their way.

"Esmeralda? Hige?"

"Corr said that we can get more food here." Hige said.

"Hige, you are definitely more of a pig than a wolf." Esmeralda said to herself.

"Where's that guy?" Tsume asked.

"Kiba? He hasn't come back yet. I wonder where he is." Esmeralda answered.

"Probably dead."

"Tsume, just shut up." Esmeralda said.

"Hey guys, look down there."

Hige, Tsume, and Esmeralda walked up to where Toboe was and looked down. To Esmeralda's surprise, there was a train with food. She even smell humans and saw them taming wolves. "That's horrible. Those humans are treating those wolves as slaves." She said while gripping the rails until her knuckles turned white.

"Those guys..." Hige mumbled.

Esmeralda saw what Hige was talking about. It looked like Zari is behind all this. 'That bastard. He's letting these humans tame these innocent wolves?' She thought before she looked down to see Gramps was down there. "Why is Gramps there? He's going to die any minute!" She shouted.

"What the hell is going on here?" Tsume shouted.

They heard footsteps from behind them and it was Zari. Esmeralda was full of rage and was about to attack him, but Tsume stopped her. "Zari! What the hell is the meaning of this?" But Zari didn't answer.

"Answer her you old fart!" Tsume shouted.

"The train stops at this station for a brief of time. With that, both humans and wolves eat to survive. That is our life." Zari explained.

"Give-and-take huh? If you look at it from that point, Tsume and Esmeralda are no different."

"We used them, we were never used by them!" Tsume and Esmeralda shouted.

"You're free to think as you will, but you are too late." Zari added. Esmeralda ignored his statement and continued to watch the horror.

'These wolves don't deserve to be treated like this.' Esmeralda thought as she watches Gramps because he looks like he's going to pass out. He passed out, but instead...he died. The humans kept whipping at Gramps's dead body acting as if he is still alive.

That got Esmeralda really mad that she jumped off from the balcony and tried to attack the humans. She was about to attack one but someone pushed her to the side. She looked to see who it was and it was Kiba. He was all bruised up and full of scars.

"Kiba?"

"I'll handle it." Kiba went to attack the humans in his wolf form but was stopped by Zari.

"I can't let you go near them." Zari said.

"Zari! Didn't you see what just happened to Gramps?" Esmeralda shouted.

"Yes, I know. It's for his own good."

"You bastard!" Esmeralda's voice was full of anger that Tsume had to hold her to prevent her from attacking anyone. Kiba was also full of rage but Zari was holding him. Soon enough, Zari and Tsume let go of Kiba and Esmeralda.

* * *

They took Gramps's dead body and put it in his grave, where he dug it. They placed his dead body in the hole and buried him.

"I thought I told you guys to not get in the way. We have our own way of life." Zari said to Kiba and the others.

"You mean a life lower than worn-out dogs? I don't think sitting around and leading worn-out dogs your 'way of life'" Esmeralda said with anger in her voice while glaring at Zari.

"What the hell do you guys know?"

"You're so low..." Kiba added.

"You're all still young."

"Tch, so what? You were like us before, doesn't mean you should treat us as if we are your own kids or something." Esmeralda said.

"As I said, you're all still young! You don't know what we've been through when we were young." Zari said.

"You were just like us before! Wild wolves like us to find paradise and now you've given up on your search? I don't even want to call you a wolf. I'd rather call you a human who gives up on his dreams."

"You can call me whatever you want, but you will understand in the mere future." With that said, Zari left.

Esmeralda looked at Gramps's grave once more before going towards Kiba. She helped Kiba up on his feet and placed his arm over her shoulders and her right arm around his waist. "Toboe, I need you to get some herbs to heal his wounds."

"Ok." Toboe left, leaving the Esmeralda, Kiba, Tsume, and Hige to go back to the shelter.


	6. Chapter 6

Esmeralda and the others were back at the shelter. It was silent since Toboe left to get herbs. No one spoke a single word. They were all just thinking...thinking about what just happened in the morning. Esmeralda didn't notice that she's in too much rage today. 'I guess I should take a little walk to calm down.' She thought to herself before she got up and left, hoping no one will interrupt her walk.

"Hey Esmeralda, where are you going?" Hige asked.

She looked back and said, "I'm going for a walk. Maybe I might end up finding some food."

"Can I come with?" She sighed before she said, "Sure."

So they both left to find some food even though it was supposed to be just a walk. After a few minutes of walking around, Esmeralda saw Toboe holding a handful of herbs. "Hige? Esmeralda? Where are you guys going?" Toboe asked when he got in front of them.

"We're looking for food." Hige said with excitement.

"Even though this idiot here ate all the food Corr gave us." Esmeralda added.

"Hey nobody wanted it so I ate it all. It wouldn't be good to waste good food."

"Well you could've saved some for us." Toboe argued.

"Well Toboe, I think you should give those herbs to Kiba." Esmeralda suggested.

"Oh right. Make sure to find lots of food." Toboe said before running off.

"Don't worry I bet Corr has some more food for us!" Hige exclaimed.

"Jeez. Will you stop talking about that woman for once? We're here to find food not women." Esmeralda glared at him.

"Hey, I can't help it. Besides she seems kind of lonely."

"Well she does but she's in the same pack as Zari and I don't trust him."

"Hm...hey I think found some food!" Hige picked up a small object from the ground and it was just a mouse doll. He sighed and threw it which Esmeralda caught it. She looked at it and saw that it was all beat and ripped up.

Hige sighed. "If food was so easy to find those geezers wouldn't have to go through all that trouble."

"Yeah...and so many wolves wouldn't have to die like that."

Hige sniffed the air. "Huh? I smell food! Fresh meat! Over there!" Hige was pointing to where he smelled the food and there was one piece of ham on the ground.

'Isn't it a bit obvious to find food out of nowhere? Something doesn't seem right.' Esmeralda thought.

"Woo hoo! Finally some food!"Hige ran towards it and when he picked up the ham, Esmeralda could tell that it was a trap because she heard some noised under them.

"Hige it's a trap! Move!" She pushed Hige and there was a cage under her and she was trapped. "Shit! Get me out of this thing!"

"Esmeralda, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm alright, but you were careless to know this trap!" She shouted at Hige.

"Hey, I was hungry!"

"I don't care just get me out of this cage!"

"Uh...I'll go get help, this cage is made out of steel. Our fangs can't even break it."

"Damn it. Just hurry up! I hate cages!" Hige runs off the get the others.

This cage reminds her of being captured in the past. 'Even back then, those cages shocked me every time I touch them. I just hope I don't get captured or something. I hope Hige can reach for help in time.' She thought before she noticed some group of people coming towards her direction. "Oh it's you guys." It was the guys who hang with Zari. "Are you guys here to help me out?"

"So wolves nowadays fall for these kind of traps as well." One of the guys made fun of her.

"It's not my fault that I got in here."

"Still, that's what you get for walking around aimlessly."

Esmeralda started to have her doubts on these guys of helping her out. "Well, are you guys going to help or not?"

"She wants our help."

"Should we help her?"

"You're in the way of maintaining our life."

"Ok, I'm sorry...now get me out this thing!" She heard a machine heading towards her direction. She knows that those are the kind of machines that takes cages like she's in away. "Hey! What the hell is your problem? You're just going to leave me here?"

"You guys are disrupting our territory at your convenience. There's no reason for us to help you."

"Is that right? If that's the case then I don't want help from you old geezers. You shouldn't even call yourselves wolves."

"Hmm. At least we're not wild wolves like you, filthy bitch."

"What did you call me?" She asked in a deadly voice.

"You heard me, a filthy bitch."

"You're going to pay once I get out of this damn cage!"

"Shut up." The guy grabbed her shirt and punched her in the gut. Before she passed out, she heard what the guy was saying. "It should've been Corr in that cage. She's in the way for giving our food to those filthy wolves."

The humans from the machine got out of it once they arrived. They saw Esmeralda in her wolf form. One of the guys whistled and said, "Man, this one is a beauty...a fine piece of work."

"Naw, she's a wild animal. Just kill her."

* * *

Toboe went to look for Hige and Esmeralda once he put the herbs on Kiba's wound. He found Esmeralda trapped in a cage and Hige left. He noticed a bunch of guys form before came.

'I hope they're there to rescue her.' But he thought wrong. He noticed Esmeralda was screaming about something about them not helping her. "Why aren't those wolves helping her?" He wondered. Soon one of the guys punched her and she was knocked out. A machine came by and took her away. "Oh man, what should I do...I need to tell Tsume."

Once he got back to where the others were, Hige told Tsume and Kiba what happened. "Hige, I saw the whole thing."

"Where is she?" Tsume asked Toboe.

"Esmeralda's been taken away by a big machine."

"If it's by humans then it would be easy for her to get out." Kiba said.

"But she was knocked out by those wolves from the town."

"What? Why would they do such a thing?" Tsume was pissed off.

"Do you know where they are headed?" Hige asked.

"I don't know."

"Why didn't you cry out and tell us? You should've trailed them." Tsume yelled at him.

Toboe looked down with a sad face. "You're right..."

"Let's go. Esmeralda needs our help." Kiba said as he was walking towards the entrance.

"But Kiba your wound..."

"It ok, I can walk. Thanks for the trouble."

"You're welcome."

"Let's go." Tsume said.

"To where?" Toboe asked.

"To look for Esmeralda."

* * *

Esmeralda woke up and remembered what happened to her. 'Those bastards will pay!' She noticed the machine was taking her to some place over the bridge. "Hey! You humans! Get me out of this thing now!"

It was no use, they couldn't hear her. "That glass must be sound proof." She looked ahead and saw Tsume and others in their wolf form, even Zari was with them. The machine started to lose control and she fell off the car and banged her head on the cage.

"Ouch!" She yelled after she grabbed the back of her head.

"Esmeralda, are you ok?" She looked to see Kiba, Tsume, Toboe, and Hige around the cage

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked around and saw Zari. "Zari...forgive me for what I said earlier."

"It's alright."

"Zari...one of your men said something about Corr and that she should be in the cage I'm in."

"I'll take care of them later."

"Next time guys, don't be so rough. This cage hurts like hell."

"Just be thankful we saved you." Toboe said.

"I am."

"Come on, break out of this cage." Tsume said.

"I'm kind of rusty when it comes to break out of a cage."

"Fine then, I'll break it." Tsume broke the cage for her and she got out. One of the human drivers pointed his gun at them and called them mutts. Zari went in his wolf form and attacked the human so that way he won't shoot.

"Let's go Esmeralda."

"Right."

"Follow me."

* * *

They followed Zari and he led them to the stinky sewer. They went inside the sewer and walked for a while.

"If you go through here it will lead you to paradise." Zari said.

"Is this the only way?" Toboe asked.

"Is it really safe?" Hige added.

"It's better than burning with trash you know?" Tsume said.

Soon they stopped walking. "This is as far as I can go. You guys go the rest of the way by yourselves." Zari said.

"Zari, you're not coming?" Esmeralda asked.

"We can't tell if paradise is actually a real place. But those who can enter and those who can't...that's what I think. You guys go and find out if paradise actually exists."

"That's no really wolf like of you." Tsume said.

"Tsume..." Esmeralda looked at Tsume.

"A wolf is supposed to protect their own pack." That caused Esmeralda's eyes to widen. "Yeah. I've fallen." Zari said with a chuckle.

Kiba start running ahead and everyone else followed but Esmeralda stayed for a second. "Zari, I want to thank you for rescuing me."

"No problem."

"But if paradise does exist, I will make sure to come back to this town and lead you guys to paradise."

"You don't have to."

"Why?"

"You're still young. We gave up on paradise a long time ago. Now we call our home paradise."

"I see."

"Hey Esmeralda, you coming or what?" Hige called out.

"Yeah, I'm coming. Goodbye Zari."

"Goodbye."

After that, she turned around and caught up with the rest of the gang. 'I'm sure we'll find paradise and when we do...I'll bring every other wolf to paradise to end their suffering.'


	7. Chapter 7

They got out of the sewers and it led the wolves to a forest. "Hey, doesn't this forest seen a little weird? I don't see any animals." Toboe said while looking around.

"Don't you know what you are?" Hige asked.

"Eh?"

"They probably ran away because they saw us. We're wolves." Esmeralda explained.

"I see."

"This is why city kids are all..." Hige mumbled to himself.

"But ever since we got out of that sewer, I can't smell the flower at all." Toboe said.

"Yeah, come to think of it, I haven't smelled it in a while now." Esmeralda added.

"I wonder if this is the right place."

"Kiba, can I ask you something?" Tsume said.

"Yea."

"Where are we going?"

"Paradise."

"Of course." Esmeralda mumbled.

"And what's leading us there?" Tsume wondered.

"Instinct."

"Instinct?" Esmeralda stared at Kiba.

"I knew it. It'd be nice if it feels like we're getting closer..." Hige said.

Soon, they stopped walking. Esmeralda looked up at the sky and heard weird noises. "That's..." Tsume whispered.

"It might be those nobles." Hige suggested.

"I don't like the sound." Toboe added.

"It's an airship. I can hear it." Esmeralda growled. Soon there were lights everywhere and some small earthquakes. 'What's going on over there?' Esmeralda asked herself.

"What's this?" Toboe asked.

"They're being so flashy." Hige said.

"She's there." Kiba whispered.

"Who's there?" Esmeralda wondered. Kiba didn't say anything and took off. He's heading towards where the chaos was happening.

"Wait! We shouldn't interfere!" Tsume shouted.

"I can feel it." Kiba said.

"Feel what?" Hige wondered.

"I don't know...I can feel it...somehow...can't you guys feel anything at all?" Kiba ran off. "Kiba, wait!"

Everyone went after him, but he was running too fast. Suddenly, Esmeralda started to feel something and started to smell the flowers again. 'Could that be what Kiba felt?' She asked herself as she continued running, almost running past Kiba. He looked at her in a strange way, but he got the hint that she felt it too. Esmeralda looked up at the sky and saw a little spark. For some reason, she was thinking that the girl is Cheza.

'Have we finally found her?' She asked herself.

"The scent is coming from up there." Hige said.

They were in front of a mountain and the only way to get through is to climb. They started climbing and the closer they got up there, the closer the scent was. "Something doesn't smell right." Esmeralda pointed out.

"What's wrong?" Tsume asked.

"I can smell the flower but...something also smells like a noble...I'm not sure."

"Let's go." Kiba said.

* * *

Once they've got to the top of the mountain, there was a dead forest in front of them. Esmeralda's heart seems to be beating fast for some reason. The flower scent is making her crazy for some reason. "I'm very excited to be embraced by a lovely girl!" Hige exclaimed.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at him. "Perv."

"Don't be so reckless...although it is kind of exciting..." Tsume added. Her eyes widen at what she just hear. "And this is coming from Tsume..." "Shut up." Esmeralda laughed a bit.

They reached across a flower meadow and there was a small waterfall in the middle of the meadow. There was a lake next to the meadows too and there as there was a girl in the water. She is fairly skinny and has very pale complexion which makes her looks delicate and fragile like a flower. She has bright red eyes with unusual darker red sclera. Her hair is jaw length, slightly shorter at the back, and light mauve in color. She was wearing a light blue body-suit which covers her feet.

"She's there...she's really there." Hige said.

"I think I'm in love." Toboe added.

"Who is she?" Tsume wondered.

"Cheza..." Esmeralda replied.

"That's her?"

"Yes, she's got the lunar scent on her."

Kiba walked up to Cheza and when her hands were near Kiba, he turned into his wolf form. Cheza felt his fur before smiling and hugged him. 'Does Kiba really care about her? Is she that important to him?' Esmeralda wondered.

"Finally...I found you." Cheza said.

"That must feel really good." Toboe said.

"The flower maiden is here..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Yup...that's the flower maiden alright." Hige said.

For some reason, Esmeralda's body made her walk up to her. 'I don't know but I feel really happy when I'm with her. Her scent is so strong, I fell happy. I've haven't had this feeling in a long time.' She thought to herself as she stood in front Cheza. Cheza pulled around from Kiba's embrace and stared at Esmeralda. "Cheza...why do I feel so happy?"

Cheza just smiled and hugged her, turning her into her wolf form in the process. At first, Esmeralda was surprised, but she hugged back. 'She made me feel warm and safe.' She thought as a tear rolled down her visible cheek. "I'm happy to see all of you." Cheza said with a soft voice.

"Esmeralda, you're crying?" Toboe asked.

"I'm sorry..." Esmeralda gently pulled away from Cheza's embrace, even though she didn't want to, and wiped the tear out of her eye. "I've just never had this warm feeling before."

"Wow, you're all happy today." Tsume said.

"Well, don't you feel the same way? A nice warm feeling in the pit of your stomach?"

"Well yea, but I'm not the one who's crying."

"At least she is finally happy." Hige said.

"Yea...Hey, is that supposed to be a compliment?" Esmeralda asked.

"Well, Esmeralda, during the past few days all you have been was angry." Toboe replied.

"Yea, you haven't smiled or anything at all." Hige added.

"Oh...well now since Cheza is here, I think my acting has change. I'm here to protect the flower maiden until we reach to paradise."

"That's very kind of you." Cheza said with a kind smile.

"Let's go. We should get moving. The nobles may come here and discover us." Kiba said.

"He's right. Let's go." Tsume agreed.

* * *

Kiba and Cheza are walking hand in hand, Esmeralda couldn't help but smile. 'I haven't been this happy in a long time. I can't believe Cheza can bring my happiness back.'

"This way...this way." Cheza said, breaking Esmeralda's train of thought.

"Well, that's Cheza alright." Hige said.

"It's weird to be human and a lunar flower at the same time." Toboe added.

"From what I've heard, a stupid human was bored and did an experiment and created her out of a lunar flower." Esmeralda explained.

"A human made from a flower? Do you really believe that?" Tsume wondered.

"Well...she is here in front of us right now, Tsume. Her scent is a flower's scent, so the story must be true."

"Even so, I still don't believe it."

"But you found her irresistible. I couldn't help but to cry when I saw her."

"That was the first time I ever saw you cry or showed happiness."

'Tsume actually complimented me for the first time. I'm starting to have weird feelings towards him now, but I don't know what it is.' Esmeralda's face started to get slightly warm, showing a little red on her cheeks. "Thanks, but I'm not going to show my happy side all the time. This maybe the only time I'm showing you guys my happiness."

"Aww, but Esmeralda, I like it when you're happy." Toboe complained.

"But then I might show my weakness and I will lose my guard."

"Oh."

"You know, I believe that since we're with the flower maiden now, we may be close to paradise." Hige said.

"Yeah!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Plus, she's not my type."

"Jeez, Hige, all you talk about is women." Esmeralda said after smacking him on the back of his head.

"Over here." Cheza said.

They arrived at an abandon building where they believe Cheza used to live. Tsume, Toboe, and Hige went to look at the other rooms. "I've been waiting all along. I was born here...for that reason." Cheza said.

"Wait, Cheza, you're the only one of her kind left? How will you survive?" Esmeralda wondered.

"It's true...no one's here anymore..."

"All the other flowers had withered away." The whole room was full of dead vines, leaves, and petals. "I'm...the only one left."

"Cheza..."Esmeralda stared at her with sadness in her eyes. Soon, gun-shots were heard and the scent of humans was around.

"Kiba, this isn't good! I smell humans everywhere!" Hige shouted.

"So do I." Esmeralda agreed.

"We're trapped." Toboe looked scared.

"I know why they're here?" Tsume wondered. Tsume was staring at Cheza, the nobles are here for her.

"No! That's not it!" Kiba shouted.

"Now's not the time for that! We have to hurry up and escape!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Escape? We're trapped you know!" Hige shouted.

"Where can we go?" Esmeralda wondered.

"This way." Cheza said before heading towards north, but that was where all the gun shots were.

"Hey, it's dangerous over there!" Hige shouted.

"Follow her." Kiba ordered.

"Maybe she knows the way out." Esmeralda said before everyone followed Cheza. As they were following her, Esmeralda caught up to Tsume to talk to him. "Tsume, do you even trust Cheza?" She asked.

"She doesn't seem trustworthy."

"But she didn't do anything wrong."

"Maybe she led those human here."

"Tsume...flower maidens are trustworthy and loyal. Cheza wouldn't do such a thing. I know she wouldn't. Her kindness brings me happiness and I know she wouldn't do that."

"Say whatever you want but I still don't trust her."

"Even though you don't trust her...I know you're excited to see her."

Soon enough, a group of humans came out of nowhere and tried to shoot up. One of the bullets almost hit Cheza, which got Esmeralda angry. She started to attack the humans with Tsume until someone shot a bullet and hit her in the arm. She screamed in pain until she got use to the pain and managed to injure the stupid human. "They're lucky that I'm in a good mood today or else I would've killed them." She said to herself before she notice there was too many people surrounding her until Tsume came and killed them all. "Tsume!"

He turned and noticed her wound. "Esmeralda, your arm!"

"I-it's nothing."

"How did you get that wound?" Hige wondered.

"I was being careless and lost my guard. It's nothing; doesn't hurt that much."

"Hey you guys, over here!" Toboe shouted.

They turned to see Toboe was in a small secret hallway and Cheza was at the other side of the hallway.

"This way!" Cheza said. Kiba ran towards her side and held hands.

"Esmeralda, what happen to your arm?" Toboe exclaimed.

"I got shot but it's not a deep wound. It'll heal in a few days or so." While she was talking, Cheza ran by her side and examined her arm. "Cheza, what are you doing?" Esmeralda stared at her.

"Hold out your arm."

"Okay?" Esmeralda held her arm out and Cheza started to heal her arm. After a few minutes, her arm was fully healed and the bullet was gone. Esmeralda was really amazed; she didn't know flower maidens could heal too. "Thank you."

"You're welcome" Cheza said with a smile.

"Let's go this way." Kiba said.

Since Esmeralda's arm is healed, she can run faster as a wolf. They passed through an opening and when Esmeralda looked out, she saw a woman with blonde hair tied up in a messy bun and noticed she was staring at Cheza.

* * *

Soon, they found themselves in an empty room that was a dead end. "What is this?" Hige asked.

"It's no use, this placed is blocked off." Toboe said.

"Maybe we should surrender."

"Are you crazy?" Tsume and Esmeralda shouted. She stared at Tsume for a second but quickly looked away.

"Ah...I was kidding."

"This way." Cheza placed her hand on the other side of the room and a hole opened up. "This is the way out." Cheza said.

"Alright, let's go." Esmeralda said.

They all went through the hole and soon the hole closed. They escaped from the humans and are now out of that abandon building. 'I wonder...could that woman be the one who created Cheza? And what is with my feelings towards Tsume?' Esmeralda asked herself.


	8. Chapter 8

Paradise is a happy place where all wolves wish to go to. If Esmeralda and the others ever reach there, she would be a happy wolf. There would be no humans there, plus now they've got Cheza with them. With Cheza joining on the journey, she's sure that they're almost to paradise.

"Hey, quit daydreaming. Let's move." Tsume said to Esmeralda.

"Huh? Oh sorry."

Everyone was still in the forest but in a different location. There were machines that the humans were using to track their every move, but they can easily hide from them. Another good thing is that the humans don't even know that some of the wolves have good smelling and hearing.

"Wait, where are we going?" Esmeralda asked.

"There's a town nearby here. We'll stop there for food." Kiba said.

"Oh."

"Esmeralda, this way." Toboe called out.

"Coming."

Everyone jumped down a cliff and started running. Esmeralda looked behind and Cheza almost fell off at the edge of the cliff. She stopped running to catch her before she fall but then Cheza came to her sense and ran to their side.

"Damn, got me worried right there. She knew where she was going. That's good."

"Well, she is the flower maiden after all." Hige added.

"But how?" Toboe wondered.

"She just is. She can feel it."

"Is that even true?" Esmeralda wondered.

"You might not be able to see it, but it does exist." Hige said.

"Maybe she's looking out for us...but why?" Toboe asked.

"Because you guys are watching her." Kiba said.

"Huh?" Esmeralda got confused.

"That's no surprise. She's neither wolf nor human .Neither a flower. She was created by those humans. How can we trust her? Are we going to take her like this?" Tsume asked.

"Yea." Kiba said.

"Why?"

"Well...don't you think it's alright? I'd be guilty if we leave Cheza behind." Esmeralda said.

"Besides it'll be nice with the scent of flowers with us." Toboe added.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Tsume wondered.

"That is true..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"If she spreads such a strong scent around, they can track us down easily."

"Humans can't track the scent." Kiba argued.

"I can tell when something is causing trouble." Tsume argued back.

"You should know how important Cehza is to us."

"I don't think I do."

"She is the key to get us to paradise!"

"I've heard enough of that."

"Guys, be quite." Esmeralda said.

Cheza was singing very low and she had to get them to be quiet to hear her better. She has a great voice and it makes her happy but at the same time feeling sleepy.

"Somehow I feel...sleepy..." Toboe said.

"So do I...what is Cheza doing?" Esmeralda wondered as she was lying down next to a tree and was falling asleep. She tried to stay awake but couldn't. Toboe and Hige were already asleep.

"Don't fall asleep, Esmeralda!" Tsume shouted.

"Sorry Tsume...I can't stay awake..." Esmeralda mumbled before closing her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

_Esmeralda, in her wolf form, was running through a field of sunflowers with a pack of wolves. She looked to her right and there were her wolf parents and her twin sister. There was a male wolf with midnight black fur and red eyes, a female wolf with beautiful white fur and emerald eyes, and her sister with the same fur color as Esmeralda and red eyes. She was running with her family and came upon a big hill. _

_She looked down the hills and saw Tsume in his wolf form and she was the only wolf on the hill. She ran down the hill to catch up with him. As she was running, she got closer to him and Tsume got closer to her as he ran towards her. Once they met, they lied down on the field with each other and enjoying each other's company._

* * *

Esmeralda opened her eyes and it was either morning or the afternoon. She looked around the area to see where she was and remembered everything from yesterday.

'That's right. Cheza's singing made all of us fall asleep.' She thought.

"Well, finally you're awake." Tsume said, who was right next to her.

"Huh?"

"You slept for the longest time." Cheza said.

"W-Where's everybody else?" Esmeralda asked as she looked for Kiba, Toboe, and Hige.

"They left to find food." Tsume answered.

"Did you have a nice dream?" Cheza asked.

"I-I guess you could call it that..." Esmeralda mumbled when she turned her head to the side, hiding her flushed face from Tsume.

"You were running with your parents and someone very special to you in the field." Cheza said.

"H-How did you..." Esmeralda had a surprised face.

"She knew what I was dreaming too." Tsume said.

"Figures...Tsume, what was your dream?"

Tsume turned his face to the side. "I don't remember."

"Oh well."

Kiba came back from wherever he was but Toboe and Hige hadn't come back yet. "All roads down the mountain have been blocked by then." Kiba announced.

"We'll just wait for the other two then we'll find another way out." Tsume said.

Esmeralda was thinking about the dream she had. It made her even more curious to know why Tsume was in it.

"You want to know why he was in your dream?" Cheza asked.

"Huh?" She turned to the flower maiden.

"In your dream, you were happy to see your parents. However, you were really happy when Tsume was there with you."

"Yeah..."

"Tsume was dreaming of running in the fields with you and he was happy."

"Wow...I wouldn't expect that to be his dream."

"Hey, I can hear you guys from here. And I said that I don't remember my dream." Tsume stated.

They were all quiet for the rest of time, waiting for Hige and Toboe to come back. A few minutes later, they finally came back with a bunch of weird objects.

"That was quite a trip." Hige said.

"We're back." Toboe stated.

"You guys took your time." Kiba said.

"There was someone following us, so we had to lose them." Hige explained.

"We brought some food and a bunch of other stuff." Toboe showed the clothing.

"What are those stuff for?" Esmeralda asked.

"These are gifts for Cheza." Toboe said. He was holding some kind of weird cloth with fake fur on them.

'I have a weird feeling that she's not going to like it.' Esmeralda thought to herself as Toboe put the cloth on Cheza.

"Do you like it?" Toboe asked. The look on Cheza's face proves that she didn't like it cause of the fur. "You don't like it?" Toboe asked.

"That's what it looks like." Esmeralda stated.

"Well then, how about this?" Hige brought some pink boots for Cheza to wear and she really liked it. She was dancing around with it. "Glad you like it." Hige said with a smile.

Soon, Cheza stopped her tracks and had a worried look on her face.

"Cheza, what is it?" Esmeralda asked before looking at the direction Chea was looking and saw an old woman standing ten feet away from them.

"Who is that?" Cheza wondered.

"Hey Hige, Toboe, is this the person you were talking about who was following you?" Esmeralda asked.

"Not sure, but that old lady does smells like the person." Hige answered.

The only woman moved closer to them and she was moving towards Cheza's stepped forward and blocked the old woman's way so she wouldn't get any closer to her. "Wolves, I see." The old woman said.

"Old woman, who are you?" Kiba asked.

The old woman was wearing sunglasses and when Kiba asked his question, she took off her glasses and revealed her red eyes just like Cheza. Everyone was shocked that there was another flower maiden like Cheza.

"What in the world are you..." Esmeralda asked.

"Flowermen that's what they call us." The old lady said.

"I recognize your scent. Are you different from me?" Cheza asked.

"You are a true masterpiece. You are different from us."

"Masterpiece?" Esmeralda raised her eyebrow. "I have been expecting you for a long time."

"I thought she was a ghost when she was following us." Toboe said.

Esmeralda sniffs the air and said, "You guys, I can smell humans heading our way."

"They're coming close." Hige added.

"I guess this is no time to be careless." Tsume said.

"Follow me. I'll hide you in my home." The old woman said before running with Cheza following her.

"Is it okay to follow her?" Esmeralda wondered.

"It's the only way to not get caught by them. Now, let's go." Tsume said.

"Alright."

So they started to follow the lady woman down the forest until they reached to a tree home and went inside. Esmeralda looked out the window and there were a couple of humans out there. Soon, they left and went to another area in the forest. "Okay, there all gone." She stated.

"Are you the only flowerman alive?" Cheza asked the old woman.

"I've experienced it with this body...the dreadful events...the flowermen who weren't completed had to wither away. I escaped the castle and hide here in the mountains and forest. I've been hiding here for a long, long time. You may not know but I know everything about you."

"I've been sleeping for a long time until now."

"A wolf seeks the flower and the flower seeks the wolf. But you must not go with these people."

"Why?"

"Because they lead to destruction."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kiba shouted.

"I wasn't talking to you!"

"How can we lead to destruction?" Esmeralda asked.

"I don't want to hear this. Let's go, Cheza." Kiba said, but Cheza didn't want to move from her seat.

'I guess this old woman is the only flowermen she can trust and talk to.' Esmeralda thought.

"My scent is being faint. Soon, it will go away." The old woman stated.

"What can I do?" Cheza wondered.

"You have the ability to extend a flowermen's life. Stay here and..."

"Cheza, don't listen to her!" Kiba shouted.

"What are you wolves trying to accomplish by taking this child away with you?" The old woman asked.

"We're going to paradise." Cheza answered.

"Cheza..." Esmeralda looked at her.

"Keep your voices down." Tsume ordered.

"Why?" Esmeralda looked at him. "Listen."

"Huh?" Esmeralda was trying to hear what Tsume was talking about. She heard one human heading towards their little hiding place.

"I've seen that woman before somewhere..." Hige mumbled to himself.

"Hige, I think she's the woman who created Cheza." Esmeralda stated.

"Huh...no wonder she smells familiar."

"What are we going to do?" Tsume asked.

"Let's go." Kiba answered.

"You guys run. I'll try and distract that woman." Esmeralda said.

"Are you sure?" Tsume asked.

"Yeah. I know what I'm doing. Now hurry up and escape before she knows we're in here."

"Let's go Cheza!" Kiba said. They all snuck out and hide while the woman was near the tree house. She was about to enter the tree house until Esmeralda jumped out and blocked her way.

"W-Who are you?" The woman was caught by surprise.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." Esmeralda said.

"It's Cher, now what are you..."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you take Cheza?"

"Why?"

"Cause...we need her to take us to paradise."

"W-What are you?"

"I'm sorry but I can't answer that."

Soon everyone else popped out and started running. "Cheza!" Cher called out.

"Cher."

"Huh?"

"All I have to say is to stop chasing us." With that, Esmeralda ran off after the others and Cher stood there dumbfounded. They were running through the town to exit and continue their journey. Soon Cheza stopped running and had a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Esmeralda asked.

"She's crying...she'll be withered away."

"The old woman?" Kiba asked.

"Yes...Kiba...is it okay that I'm tagging along with you guys?"

"Yea." He said with a kind smile.

Cheza turned to Hige."Hige?"

"The more the merrier right?"

Cheza turned to Toboe. "Toboe?"

"Sure!"

Cheza turned to Tsume."Tsume?"

"Tag along if you want. I won't stop you."

Cheza turned to Esmeralda. "Esmeralda?"

"Of course you can tag along. Cheza, you're like another sister to me and I would feel guilty if we had left behind."

"I'm glad to hear that." "

We need to leave fast. They are heading towards our direction." Tsume stated.

"The exit is that way." Kiba pointed at a direction. They continued running and headed out of the town. Their journey to paradise continues.

"Hey, Esmeralda, I didn't know you had a sister." Hige said.

"Yeah, I do. We'll probably see her and my parents along the way." Esmeralda said.

"If she's your sister, then she must be hot."

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going to ignore that comment."


	9. Chapter 9

Esmeralda and the others came upon a small town to cross through. 'I don't think there's anything dangerous in this town so I think it's okay to just walk around freely without anyone noticing us' Esmeralda thought to herself while walking beside Tsume. They crossed through a small alley and there was an opening on the side of the alley.

Esmeralda looked through the opening and couldn't believe her eyes. She saw the same dark blue wolf-dog that she and Tsume saw back at Freeze City. Cheza stopped beside her and looked at her direction to see the wolf-dog.

"We have friends here as well." Cheza said before making her way towards her and Esmeralda followed her. Cheza kneeled in front of her and asked, "Did you know, there's a wolf in you?"

The wolf-dog has a bit of a shocked look but Esmeralda was confused. 'Has she never known that she was half wolf?'

Soon, Esmeralda heard footsteps coming from a bar that the wolf-dog was tied up to and a familiar voice. It was Cher's voice. "Cheza, we need to get out now. Let's go." Esmeralda grabbed Cheza and quickly ran after the others. "Great, now this town is going to be surrounded by the humans." Esmeralda mumbled to herself.

* * *

They finally caught up with the others at an abandon junkyard. "Where did you guys went?" Hige wondered.

"I saw a familiar face..." Esmeralda replied.

"Seems we even have friends as well." Cheza said.

"Huh?" Toboe looked confused.

"It's nothing." Esmeralda said.

"Who did you see?" Tsume wondered.

"No one."

"Liar."

"Hmph."

"Okay...I think this place is a good place to hide. Humans don't like to stay in a place like this." Hige said.

"I'll come back once I figure out what the humans are doing." Tsume said.

"I'll come with you, Tsume." Esmeralda said as she stood up.

"Toboe, you stay here and protect Cheza." Kiba ordered.

"Roger that."

"Let's go. We'll meet back here later."

"Alright." Esmeralda nodded.

"Whatever." Tsume said.

"We'll back soon." Esmeralda said before she and Tsume left.

* * *

They all went to look for whatever they're looking for while Esmeralda and Tsume look for a way out of the town.

"You never answered my question." Tsume said out of nowhere.

Esmeralda turned towards Tsume. "What question? You hardly ask me anything."

"My question was why you hated humans or why don't talk about your past that much."

"Oh…that question. It's kind of complicated..."

"Pathetic."

Esmeralda glared and growled at Tsume."Fine, I'll tell you...I was a leader of a powerful clan up in the North; I took over my old man's place after he decided to watch the rest of the clan and my family. Things were going great when I was the leader...however, one day I made a mistake. We got word that some nobles were stocking a bunch of supplies that could help out the clan for a little over a year, when we got there...the nobles were there waiting for us. Somehow, they got some info saying that we would be there. The battle between us was crazy and got out of hand. I told them to leave as I finish off the last remaining nobles. As I was about to leave, another noble appeared out of nowhere and slice my right eye...leaving me this scar."

Esmeralda moved her hair from her face, showing Tsume her scar before placing the hair back in its place. "After I woke up, I noticed that almost everyone in the clan was dead. It was because of my over-confidence that I lost most of my friends from that mission. So, I went back home, gave up my position as the leader and left my home. It was because of that, I hated the humans since then and I covered my scar so I wouldn't remember that day..."

A single tear rolled down her cheeks. "How strange...I haven't cried since the day my life turned for the worst."

"How annoying..." Out of nowhere, Tsume used his thumb and wiped the tear from her eye. She was really shocked and was blushing at the same time.

"T-Tsume...?"

"I'm only doing this because your crying is annoying me and crying just isn't you."

"Oh..." His touch made her heart beat like crazy. 'I think I have fallen for Tsume...or am I just being crazy?'

"Perfect."

"Huh?"

"I found the perfect way out of this town."

"Really?"

"Look." She looked and there was an exit out of the town. "If takes us to a small cliff to climb down from and a forest just ahead. Perfect for getting out. We should tell the others."

"Let's go."

"Right."

* * *

Esmeralda and Tsume went back to the others and told them the way out. "Alright, we'll leave tonight." Kiba announced.

"So, we're finally getting out of this place?" Toboe asked.

"That's right." Esmeralda said.

"Here's the plan. We leave some kind of clue, making the humans outside think that we are hiding here. Then Esmeralda, Hige, and Tsume will distract the humans while me, Cheza, and Toboe gets out of the town."

"Tch, whatever." Tsume said with his arms crossed.

"This will be fun." Hige said.

"Fun, huh?" Esmeralda mumbled.

"Okay. Let's go."

So they placed a blanket over some garbage to make it look like that we are hiding under it while they snuck out of the junkyard the other way. They all split up with Esmeralda, Tsume, and Hige going to the human camp while the others wait for their signal. She heard some of the humans saying something about 'we missed them or something'. Hige, being an idiot, walked up to them and started a convoy with them.

"That idiot." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Let's go, Esmeralda!" Tsume shouted.

"Right!"

They started attacking the humans but not killing them. Most likely knocking them out. Esmeralda made a sign to the others that it was safe and they started moving.

"Esmeralda, you go with them." Tsume said.

"Huh? But Tsume..."

"Just go!"

"Alright..." Esmeralda caught up with the others leaving Tsume and Hige distracting the humans.

"This way." Kiba said.

They pass through each empty alley ways, making sure there wasn't anyone around. There was a huge opening in one of the alleys and they tried to run through it as fast as they can. As Esmeralda was passing through, a human popped out but it wasn't one of those nobles. It was the same old man that looks like a hunter and smells like alcohol from Freeze City. She stopped running and stared at him. He was shocked from seeing her, like he saw her from somewhere.

"You...Ruth?" Esmeralda stared at him like he was crazy.

"Esmeralda, what are you doing? We need to leave." Toboe called out.

"Oh no...Toboe run!"

"Huh?" The old man saw Toboe and took his gun out. Esmeralda grabbed Toboe's hand and ran after Kiba and Cheza.

Esmeralda knew the way out so it was easy to know where they were. They lost sight of the old man so he won't hurt anybody. They finally caught up with everyone and Tsume and Hige were there too.

"You're late." Tsume stated.

"Where were you?" Kiba wondered.

"Sorry. I bumped into some trouble."

"Another human?" Hige asked.

"Yeah."

Soon a bullet shot went off and it almost hit Esmeralda. She turned around to see the old man again. "You damn wolves! You damn wolves won't deceive me anymore!" He shouted as everyone was dodging the bullets.

Cheza fell from running and the old man was aiming his gun towards her. Esmeralda quickly ran in front of her to block her. The old man shot a bullet and it hit her shoulder area but she didn't care. "Ruth?...No...You're not Ruth..."

"He's drunk..." Esmeralda stated. She could tell that he was having a headache from seeing her. Kiba grabbed Cheza before everyone was running into the forest and once again, lost sight of the old man.

* * *

After a few minutes of running, Esmeralda collapse to the ground.

'Damn, I've forgotten about that bullet.' She thought as she grasped her shoulder.

"Esmeralda!" Tsume called out as he kneeled by her.

"Esmeralda, your shoulder!" Toboe screamed.

"Yeah...Sorry about that, guys."

"It's not your fault..." Cheza said before healing her shoulder and all Esmeralda could think of was what the old man said.

'He keeps thinking that I'm Ruth...who is Ruth? Also, what happen to that wolf-dog of his? Why isn't she with him? Has she finally come to her senses and ran away from him?' She wondered.


	10. Chapter 10

The gang was now walking in a weird forest which is annoying. The forest was full of disgusting things and there wasn't anything beautiful around them at all.

"This forest is freaking annoying and disgusting." Esmeralda said out loud.

"This forest is called the 'forest of death.'" Toboe said.

"The humans wouldn't be able to chase us in here." Kiba stated.

"Well, I guess that is true..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"They should have some rabbits for foxes around to eat." Hige said.

"Is food the only thing you could think and thank about?" Esmeralda wondered with her eyes narrowed at Hige.

"Can you blame me; I am a wolf after all."

"More like a pig."

"There should be a town on the other side of the forest. So bear with it until we get there." Kiba ordered.

"If we get out of here alive" Tsume said before he kicked a human skull and it hits Esmeralda's foot. She just stared at the skull while Toboe freaked out.

"That's scary..." Toboe mumbled.

A huge bug flew through then it started to attack Esmeralda but Tsume caught the bug with his hand. "How disgusting." Esmeralda said.

"I guess we can eat bugs." Tsume said while looking at the bug.

"Give it to Hige. He'd probably eat it." She suggested.

"Here." Tsume shoved the bug to Hige.

"Why does it have to be me to eat it?" Hige complained.

"You have a bigger metabolism than us" Toboe stated.

"Eat it." Tsume said.

"I'm not your food tester!" Hige took the bug and walked towards Cheza. "Give it to Cheza."

Kiba killed the bug before he said, "She won't be eating that"

"Come to think of it, I never saw Cheza eat" Esmeralda said.

"I don't eat. Nothing at all" Cheza stated with a smile.

"You only drank water that other time" Toboe said.

"Drink and absorb."

"Absorb?" Kiba wondered.

"But there isn't any sunlight here...It's cover with trees." Esmeralda said as she looked up at the trees. "I can't absorb..." Cheza started to get worried. "Let's continue walking." Kiba said.

* * *

So they continued walking and passed by more of the huge bugs. 'There is no way any human can survive in this forest and I don't know how we can survive.' Esmeralda thought to herself. She noticed that for some reason Cheza has been acting a bit strange.

"Ah!" Toboe yelled as he fell.

"Toboe?" Esmeralda grew concerned. Toboe had tripped from a huge branch and probably sprained his ankle.

"Is your ankle sprained?" Kiba asked.

"Not really." Toboe said.

"Show me." While Kiba checked if Toboe's ankle was sprained, Esmeralda went to Cheza to make sure that she was okay.

"Cheza."

Cheza looked up from the tree she was sitting on. "Yes?"

"Are you feeling well?"

"Why yes. I'm okay"

"Oh...cause there isn't anything to drink or any sun for you to absorb. I'm kind of worried."

"Don't worry. I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me"

"I see..."

Cheza got up and walked towards Toboe. She started to heal his ankle but then Toboe said that it felt good and the touch of Cheza smelled good too. Soon Hige wanted to be petted too so Cheza petted him on his head and Hige was happy.

"Esmeralda, you should let Cheza pet you too. It feels good" Toboe said.

"Really?"

"Yea." Hige added.

Esmeralda thought about before shrugging her shoulders "Oh, what the hell?" She walked up to Cheza and when she patted her head, she felt warmer and the smell of the flower was really good. 'I can't believe Cheza can do all these types of stuff.' She thought.

"Tsume, you should try this too." Toboe said.

"It feels good Tsume. I know you're going to like it." Hige stated. Tsume just made a funny face and ignored them. Esmeralda knew he wants Cheza to do it to him but he's just too shy.

"We need to get going." Kiba stated.

"Yeah."

* * *

They continued walking for about a few more hours. It was silent until Hige said, "This place isn't so bad once you get used to it."

"There aren't any humans around so I guess that's a good thing." Esmeralda said.

"Plus we can eat bugs when we're hungry right?" Toboe wondered.

"Ugh..." Esmeralda felt like she was going to puke after just thinking about it.

"It's either that or no grub" Tsume stated.

"Since when were you the leader?" Hige asked.

"We don't really have a leader or anything...We're not that kind of pack" Kiba said.

"Then what kind of pack are we?" Tsume asked.

"Does it really matter?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yea. Besides what are we going to do when we get out of here?" Toboe wondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tsume said.

"We eat then sleep right?" Esmeralda asked.

"Right." Kiba agreed.

"Oh." Toboe muttered.

Esmeralda looked at Cheza and she seems to look a bit tired. 'She hasn't been drinking or absorbing anything lately. I hope she doesn't get sick or anything.' Esmeralda started to worry. "Cheza, are you tired?" She asked.

"No I'm..." Cheza fainted a little and Kiba caught her.

"You're tired. Go ahead and rest" Kiba said.

"I'm alright..."

"I see a bird!" Hige exclaimed while looking up at a branch.

"Huh?" Esmeralda turned to Hige.

"You must be seeing things." Tsume said, not believing a word he said.

"No. I heard a flap over there. Didn't you hear it Esmeralda?"

"No."

"I heard it. It was an owl...so...bird meat!" Hige starts running towards wherever the flapping noise was.

"Hige!" Esmeralda called out.

"Hige wait!" Tsume tried, but Hige didn't listen.

"That idiot."

"You guys stay here."

"Tsume, I'll come with you."

"Fine."

* * *

Esmeralda and Tsume went after Hige and found him just standing there looking around. "It must've been a falling leaf." Tsume said.

"C'mon, let's go back." Esmeralda added.

"That's strange. I'm sure I saw it." Hige mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, some hooting sounds were made and there was an owl behind us. Esmeralda couldn't believe that Hige was actually right. "So there is an owl." Esmeralda said.

"Told you! Even though it doesn't seem enough to share with everyone." Hige said.

"Be careful." Tsume warned them.

"Huh?" Hige got confused.

"I can't smell the owl. That's odd..." Esmeralda stated.  
"It's not an ordinary owl." Tsume added as he glared at the owl.

"Ordinary owl you say? Delicious wolf. Everyone is lost. Good work! Hoot." The owl said to the three wolves.

"It can talk?" Esmeralda wondered as she stared at the owl with widen eyes.

"I don't care. Playing games with me eh?" Tsume growled before attacking the owl but it escaped and it kept saying the same words as before.

"Everyone is lost. Good work!" Those were the owl's final words that they heard.

"Now that owl is getting really annoying." Esmeralda said in an angry voice. Suddenly, someone made a wolf cry.

"What was that?" Hige asked.

"It was probably Toboe." Esmeralda replied.

* * *

They ran back to where the others were and noticed that Cheza seems worse than before. "What happen?" Esmeralda asked.

"Cheza is..." Toboe couldn't finish his sentence.

She looked at Cheza and she is slowly withering. "This is bad." Esmeralda stated.

"She's withering?" Tsume asked Kiba.

"We need water and sunlight"

"Which is impossible..." Esmeralda stated.

"There's no sunlight here and there isn't any water around" Tsume added.

"Still...we still need to find some!" Kiba shouted.

"Kiba...I don't know if I'm right but we should go to the left straight up there." Esmeralda as she looked to her left.

"Is there water around?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not sure..."

"But we shouldn't stand here." Hige said.

"There's nothing you can do." The wolves looked up to see the same owl that Tsume, Esmeralda, and Hige saw.

"An owl?" Kiba wondered.

"It came back." Esmeralda said with her eyes narrowed at the annoying bird.

"There's nothing you can do about light. There's nothing you can do about water. There's nothing you can do about the flower withering" The owl said.

Kiba started to get angry at the owl. "What did you say!?"

"Wait!" Esmeralda shouted.

"What is it?" Tsume asked her.

"This owl lives in the forest right?"

"Right." Hige answered.

"So...doesn't the owl know where the water is or something?"

"Owl, tell me! Where's the closet source of water?" Kiba demanded. The owl just said nothing. It's starting to intimidate them.

"You stupid owl! Answer Kiba!" Esmeralda shouted with anger.

"Just answer us!" Tsume shouted also.

"Do live in this forest? If so, tell us! She needs water!" Kiba shouted.

"Who...are you guys talking to?..." Cheza asked.

"An owl." Esmeralda answered.

"Owl?..."

"Just rest, Cheza" Kiba said to her calmly.

"Please tell us where we can find water!" Esmeralda said. The owl didn't answer then flew away.

"Stray dear wolves" That was all the owl said.

"What?" Esmeralda got confused.

"Follow him! That owl is our only clue!" Tsume said before everyone followed him with Kiba holding Cheza on his back.

* * *

They ran after the owl and the owl took them to a cave. "You will find answers if you stray. Inside there will answer your straying. Only those who step in will be blessed" The owl said.

"What is it talking about?" Esmeralda asked as she was getting tired of the owl's riddle talk.

"It wants us to go to the cave." Hige said.

"Does that mean there's water in the cave?" Toboe asked.

"I don't know." Tsume said.

Esmeralda looked around for Kiba and he's walking in the cave. 'I know how much he wants to take care of Cheza but he shouldn't do all this by himself.' She thought.

"You can't go in there by yourself!" Hige cried out.

"We don't know if the owl is telling the truth." Esmeralda added.

"Then where's the water!? Do you know!?"He yelled at her.

"No..."

"Don't yell at her like that!" Tsume shouted.

"There's no other way! I'm going in."

They had no choice but to follow Kiba in the cave. It was a bit dark but they can manage to see.

"He's not the only one that cares about Cheza. " Esmeralda said while staring at the weak Cheza.

"Esmeralda, just ignore him." Tsume said.

"Huh?" She stared at Tsume.

"We all want Cheza safe. So that's what he wants."

"Oh..." 'It's weird to hear this from Tsume but at least I know Kiba wants to save Cheza no matter what.' She thought to herself.

* * *

They have been walking in the cave for a while and Esmeralda is starting to think they were lost. "Didn't we see this rock before?" Toboe asked after he looked at the same rock.

"It's like a maze." Hige complained.

"Everything looks the same here and there." Tsume said.

"We're going right. We went left back then" Kiba said before continuing on walking but he tripped and got angry.

"Can't you just calm down?" Esmeralda said with her hand on her hips.

"Don't get so worked up." Tsume added.

"Kiba...you're tired. Let me carry Cheza." Esmeralda offered as she got closer to them.

"You think you can carry her?" Kiba asked which stopped her.

"Huh?"

"Do you think you can carry Cheza?!"

"Actually..."

"I'm fine! I don't need to rest! We have no time to rest!"

"I was just trying to help..."

"That's enough. We can't trust your nose. It has probably dulled from the scent of the flower." Tsume said as he walked up behind Esmeralda.

"That's not true!"

"Kiba...please let me carry Cheza...you're tired..." Esmeralda said.

"I can't give her to you."

"Put Cheza down. We can't let you carry her. Let Esmeralda carry Cheza." Tsume said, leaving Esmeralda in a complete shock.

'Why is Tsume sticking up for me? I just don't get it... what is this feeling I feel towards Tsume? Never mind that, I need to stop Tsume and Kiba from arguing.' She thought.

"You need the composure to lead the pack." Tsume said.

"Don't get in my way!" Kiba shouted.

"You want to get it on?"

"Both of you, knock it off!" Esmeralda shouted before she stepped on something hard. She looked down and saw that it was a skeleton.

"A skeleton? Is it human?" Toboe asked, completely terrified.

"I don't know." Hige said.

"It's not human. It's a bird." Esmeralda said after she got a closer look at the skeleton.

"Bird?"

"Looks like an owl." Toboe stated.

Esmeralda noticed something. "Wait…if this is a skeleton of an owl...then that means…that owl set up a trap for us!" Esmeralda shouted before a huge bug popped up from the owl bones and it crawled up to her leg. She quickly kicked it off but the bug called for its friends. Now there are millions of bugs surrounding them.

"There's a lot of them!" Toboe shouted.

"Well, you can thank the stupid owl for this!" Esmeralda shouted.

"I knew we should've eaten it before we had the chance." Tsume said after he knocked one of bugs away from him.

"Run!" Hige shouted.

"To where?!" Toboe asked.

A bug started biting Cheza but Esmeralda quickly grabbed it and squashed it to death. "Kiba, give Cheza to me." Esmeralda said with her arms out.

"Here, catch Esmeralda!" Kiba threw Cheza to her and she caught her. She quickly ran far away from the bugs and settled Cheza down to the ground.

"Esmer...alda..." Cheza called out as she reaches for her with her hand. Esmeralda gently grabbed her hand and smiled.

"Don't worry, Cheza. I'll be right back." She went back to the others and started fighting the bugs in their wolf forms.

"You think a wolf would lose to a bug?" Tsume asked with a smirk.

"Although, we all gather around the same flower." Toboe said.

"Well said." Hige complemented.

"Can we kill these things already?" Esmeralda asked, very eager to kill them.

"They're coming!" Kiba shouted before they begun to kill.

Killing the bugs was easy but they keep biting on them and they got some deep cuts. 'I don't care if I'm dying or losing too much blood. There is no way I'm going to let some bugs get Cheza.' Esmeralda said in her head.

While fighting the bugs, Cheza comes down and starts running as the bugs chase after her. "Cheza!? Why!? What are you doing!?" Esmeralda called out. Cheza fell through a small hill down in the cave. "What is she doing?! She's going to get herself killed!" She shouted as the gang followed Cheza.

* * *

They all went down the small hill to find Cheza and once they got down, all of the bugs that followed Cheza were getting eaten by some kind of plants. "They were hungry...so I fed them..." Cheza explained.

"A bug eating plant huh?" Tsume said with amazement in his eyes.

"So we were saved by Cheza's friends." Hige said.

"Great, now we wreak of blood. Those annoying bugs." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Don't be such a baby." Tsume said.

"Guys! I see light this way!" Toboe shouted as he pointed at a direction of the bright light.

"Does it lead to the exit?" Esmeralda asked.

"Let's go" Kiba said before they walked to where Toboe saw the light.

* * *

When they got there, there was the exit and a lake of water. "Water..." Esmeralda said with joy on her face.

"There's water!" Toboe cheered before he jumped into the water.

"Yahoo!" Hige cheered also before jumping in.

Esmeralda jumped into the water as well and drank some water. "I'd never thought i would be this thirsty for water. It tastes so fresh." Suddenly, someone splashed water at her. She turned to see it was Hige.

"Got you!" Hige said with a smirk on his face.

"You stupid pig!" She splashed water towards Hige but it hit Tsume instead. "Oh no…" Esmeralda mumbled as she backed away a bit.

"Oh no is right!" Tsume splashed water at her and then they all had a splash fight. Esmeralda never saw this fun side of Tsume, but she liked it. It's fun to play around with him.

'I think I'm starting to develop feelings for Tsume...have I?' She asked herself before Cheza stepped into the water and everyone stopped what they were doing.

Cheza just stood in the water and the moonlight shone on her. Of course she is the flower maiden and she can never look prettier than before. 'I'm glad that she's doing okay now.' Esmeralda thought with a smile.

"I'm sleepy…" Toboe said with a tired look on his face.

"Yea, after all that from today, I'm exhausted." Esmeralda said as everyone got out of the water. Cheza started to sing and it was the same song that made them sleep the other day. Once they all got out of the lake, they decided to rest on the grass.

Esmeralda started to fall asleep and before she fully went to sleep, she looked at Tsume then smiled. 'I am falling for Tsume.'


	11. Chapter 11

The group was walking past by a town which seems to comfort Esmeralda. 'These humans seem to be just thieves. Heh my kind of town.' Esmeralda thought.

"What an obnoxious town..." Hige said.

"I don't really hate it at all." Tsume said with a smirk.

"You're right. This seems to remind of my home." Esmeralda said.

"I smell danger...my blood is boiling with excitement" Tsume said.

"Me too!" Toboe exclaimed.

"How can you say that when you cry all the time?" Hige teased.

"Well that's not the reason we're all excited for..." Esmeralda said.

"Tonight is the full moon!" Hige shouted.

"Yeah and I can't wait till the full moon! I could just howl like crazy all day!" Esmeralda exclaimed.

"Well you're happy" Tsume stated.

"Well duh it's the full moon! My family and I can never get sad when it's that day! I know your excited too" Esmeralda said.

"Yeah." Tsume said with a smirk on his face.

"Doesn't Cheza seem to be sparkling with energy as well?" Toboe wondered. They all look towards Cheza and she was walking ahead of them.

"The annual night of the full moon. I heard rumors that...'the flower is called from the moon and it is sent back to paradise'" Kiba explained.

"Does that mean we'll..." Tsume said.

"We're really going to paradise tonight?" Esmeralda asked with excitement.

"I'm not sure about that." Kiba replied.

"What? What's going on?" Toboe asked.

"Cheza's not going to bloom or anything like that right?" Hige asked.

"I'm getting excited too." Cheza said with a smile.

"So where will we go to see the full moon?" Esmeralda asked.

"Over there." Kiba was pointing to a small garden area that has a clear view of the upcoming moon.

"Wow, perfect spot!" Esmeralda said.

"How about we split up and meet at the spot?" Hige suggested.

"Good idea. Meet back here before midnight" Kiba said.

"Okay" Toboe said.

"Tsume, mind if I join you?" Esmeralda asked.

"Sure"

* * *

They all split up and went to different places. Esmeralda and Tsume were heading towards a small cliff to see the ocean and to just chill out. She lied down on the ground and looked at the clouds. It was silent but a peaceful silent. She could practically hear the winds whispering in her ear with joy.

"You know..." Tsume said.

"Huh?" Esmeralda got up and looked at Tsume.

"You said you hate humans right?"

"Yea..."

"I think you're starting to like them"

"What? That's impossible."

"I don't know...from the other day, you say that old man and it seems that he knew you and called you with a different name."

"When Oyaji called me Ruth that time?"

"Yea."

"Come to think of it...I think Ruth was someone important to him like either a family member or a loved one."

"And also that time with that women."

"That Cher woman? Well...I didn't want to do anything to her."

"Just like the old man. Face it Esmeralda. You're starting to like humans."

"No I don't...it's just that...they are the certain humans that I don't want to hurt."

"Even if one is trying to take Cheza away and the other is a wolf hunter?"

"Yeah...I'll do whatever it takes to protect Cheza and I know that they can't do anything if I'm around...besides it's not like I'm going to risk my life for a humans."

"Maybe you are."

"Maybe I'm not..."

"Come on, we have to get back."

"Yea, it's getting pretty dark..." so they head back to the meeting spot everyone else said.

* * *

When they got back, everyone else was there and the full moon was up. Cheza was dancing in a small pond of water while Esmeralda just stared at the moon. 'It's so pretty and I feel at energized.' She thought.

"This is it." Tsume said.

"I feel like I can do anything I want right now." Esmeralda said.

"Even the full moon seems quite different." Toboe said.

"I just want to howl it all out!" Tsume exclaimed.

"Wow Tsume. I've never seen that much excitement from you." Esmeralda said while looking at him.

"Oh yeah and what about you?" He asked.

"Well...I also want to howl it all out!"

"Heh…"

As Cheza was dancing...they all turned into their wolf form and started running around while howling a rhythm. After a few minutes of howling, they all just stared at the moon. Esmeralda had closed her eyes and soon she saw a path of lunar flowers and it lead to paradise.

"It's the road to paradise..." Hige mumbled.

"It's...amazing...it seems we're one step closer every step..." Esmeralda added. They started running on the lunar path in their wolf form, hoping to reach to paradise in no time.

* * *

They had stopped running because their joy of happiness was interrupted by a non-human ship. The lunar path has disappeared too. They didn't know who's in that ship but Esmeralda smells danger. Esmeralda quickly took her stance and waited for the door to open. Once it did, a very mysterious man walks out with a very deep voice. He was tall and light skinned in appearance, his hair was blue- grey in color and had a slightly greasy, thin look; he wore mainly dark purple clothing, a long gown/robe, with trousers, long sleeved shirt and black boots/shoes, and has a black eye patch that covers his right eye.

However, Esmeralda couldn't shake the feeling that she met him somewhere before. "Wolf...it's been a while hasn't it?" The mysterious man asked.

"Why are you here?" Kiba asked him.

"Who...are you?" Esmeralda asked.

"Did you have a nice dream? About going to paradise that is."

"What?" Kiba was confused.

"It's not yet time to do that. Let's go back Cheza."

'How does he know Cheza? Either way, he's not laying a finger on her.' Esmeralda thought before she said, "Sorry, but we can't let you take her!"

"Ah, I remember you. You've grown up quite beautifully…but do you remember me?" The man asked as he stared at Esmeralda with lust in his eyes.

"No and I don't want to know." Esmeralda glared at him.

"It's a pity. Maybe you'll remember me in your dream."

"What?"

"Esmeralda, look out!" Tsume called out.

"Huh?"

The guy disappeared and re-appeared right in front of her. He took off his eye patch to show her his eye. His eye was gold and black which is like a wolf's eye. Esmeralda was so lost in thought from the look of his eye that all of a sudden she was knocked out. The last thing she heard was the guy saying his name was Darcia.

* * *

_Esmeralda was outside of a familiar place. There was a clan of wolves that were behind her, fighting against the humans that attacked. She looked at a familiar wolf fighting against a human with a gun in his hands before she realized that the wolf was her. _

'_Is this the thing Darcia said, the same day where I lost my friends? Well I'll just have to check it out.' Esmeralda thought as she followed herself. _

_The past Esmeralda defeated the human by biting him on the neck and ran off somewhere. The past Esmeralda stop to see a dark purple wolf standing front of her. The wolf was noticeably larger than other wolves, even bigger than the past Esmeralda, and has two different colored eyes like Darcia. _

'_Don't tell me that I had encounter Darcia!? Then could mean that he was…' _

_"Well, well, I see a wolf eh?" _

"_Who...who are you?" Past Esmeralda asked while glaring that the wolf. _

_"That's none of your concern, but tell me, how does it feel to lose everything that you work so hard for?" _

_"Don't tell…that you were one who did all this!? Why would you betray your own kind?!" _

_"It's simple, because you're family have been getting in my way for too long." _

_"What?!" _

"_Now...show me your human side" _

_"Huh? What are you talking about?" soon the past Esmeralda saw the wolf change to a human and she was shocked. 'I didn't know I can do that too.' The past Esmeralda thought. _

_"Now show me your human side." _

_The past Esmeralda was quite before she said,"...fine..." so she went to her human side and she was surprised. _

_"Beautiful…" He said before a noble came out of nowhere and sliced her right eye. _

_The past Esmeralda screamed in pain as she held her right face and fell the ground. The mysterious guy walked up towards her and stood in front of her before he stomped on her stomach really hard, knocking her out. _

'_All of this was… Darcia's fault.' Esmeralda thought as tears began to form in her eyes when she saw what happened next. The past Esmeralda woke up the next day and saw the most of her friends were dead. She stood up slowly and had a shocked look on her face as she gently placed her hand over her bleeding right side of her face and right eye._

* * *

Esmeralda had woken up and there were a stream of tears coming out of her eyes. She wiped them away and realized that she had been knocked out by Darcia. She quickly looked around her surroundings and everyone else was here unconscious but she didn't see Cheza. Everyone was bleeding and she was the only person who wasn't bleeding.

First she ran to Toboe's side. "Toboe! Toboe! Wake up!"

"...uh...Esmeralda...uh..."

"Wake up...just rest and then wake up."

She went to Hige and noticed that his leg was bleeding a lot. She touched his wound which woke him up. "Ouch!"

"Sorry...at least you gain consciousness."

She went to Tsume. He was bleeding but not a lot; just his arm and his leg. "Tsume..."

"I'm...alright..."

"Oh thank god...what happened?"

"After...you were knocked out...he attacked us..."

"Oh...I'm glad everyone's okay..."

"Is...everyone okay?" Kiba asked.

"Ah Kiba!"

"We're alright..." Toboe said.

"Yeah..." Hige added.

"Cheza...where's Cheza!?" Esmeralda shouted.

"Cheza...she...she left with Darcia..." Kiba said with a sad face.

Esmeralda was shocked. "What..." A single tear roll down her eyes. 'This can't happen...we lost Cheza to Darcia...'


	12. Chapter 12

They were at a small town in a small worn out building to heal their wounds. Esmeralda was still mad that Cheza is now with Darcia. She felt like she just wants to leave this place and look for her.

"We should leave now..." She mumbled.

"We're leaving?" Hige asked.

"Duh, we need to look for Cheza and to get her back."

"Come on guys, I know we're all sad and annoyed but it looks like everyone is not in this world. And Kiba, you haven't said a word since 'it' happened" Hige said.

"Drop that subject..." She said after hitting Hige on the back of his head.

"But Kiba was the one who was hurt the most." Hige argued while holding his head in pain.

"That's not it...it just ticks me off that's all." Kiba said.

"It ticks me off too...why did she leave with him? Did she allegedly gave herself to him or he kidnapped her?" Esmeralda wondered.

"She...wanted to protect us and she left with him so he wouldn't kill us." Kiba explained.

"Tch..."

Suddenly, Esmeralda heard voices saying something like 'she went that way' and 'get her!'. Then a woman came in and Esmeralda was shocked to see who it was. That woman was that same wolf-dog that she met with Tsume the first time and again with Cheza.

"It's..."

Soon a group of three human men came in and she could tell that they were after the wolf-dog. "Friends eh?"

"And what if we are?" Esmeralda asked.

"Hand over the woman."

"Why should we?"

"She's already been sold."

"Sold?" That made Esmeralda knew that they were going to do something dirty to her. "You sick bastards!" Esmeralda glared at the human men.

"You guys aren't from around here are you?"

"And what if we are?"

"There are a lot of nice young bodies we can use around here!"

"Nice and healthy ones!"

"What about you? You're cute, young, and have a nice body" the man was grabbing Esmeralda and dragging her.

"Let...me…GO!" She kicked the guy where the sun doesn't shine and that just made him mad.

"Why you!" He was about to punch her but the punch was blocked by Tsume. Tsume punched the guy and he flew six feet away from her.

"Don't touch her!" Tsume shouted.

Esmeralda blushed before she said, "Thanks..."

The other two guys tried to attack everyone else but they were easily beaten up. Esmeralda grabbed the guy who tried to punch her and she turned into a wolf. She was about to bite the guy but she ended up not doing it. Her face was an inch away from the guys face and the guy freaked out. "It's the curse...its Darcia's curse!"

'Darcia's curse?' Esmeralda thought before all of a sudden he was grabbed by Tsume and they ran out of the building and stopped at a junkyard. 'That guy said something like Darcia's curse? I need to know about this.' She thought.

* * *

"Did you see their faces?" Tsume asked while laughing.

"It was funny!" Esmeralda laughed along with him.

"I felt refreshed from that." Toboe added.

"Yeah." Kiba agreed.

"Are you alright?" Hige asked the wolf-dog.

She was appeared as a tall, slender, fairly young looking woman who appears as if she is in her late teens or early twenties, has light blue eyes, has a coffee colored complexion; her hairstyle is short, messy and has a tom-boy-ish air to it. She was wearing a long-sleeved, navy blue buttoned coat which has a matching belt with the collar of her coat sticks up, matching thigh-length, navy blue heeled and a short, red-ish pink scarf.

"Yeah. Thanks." The woman said.

"So, you're here." Esmeralda said.

"Yea. It's been a while."

"Well you finally spoke."

"It's been a while for you too." Blue was talking to Kiba.

"Yea"

"So, what your name?" Esmeralda asked.

"It's Blue. Thank you"

"We didn't save you. We just felt like teaching them a lesson." Tsume said.

"Tsume!" Esmeralda yelled at him.

"You sure are a fine woman." Hige said while looking at Blue.

"Hige, you are such a pig." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Besides, Esmeralda, how do you know Blue?" Hige asked.

"Tsume and I met her once. She was outside, waiting for someone...by the way Blue where is Oyaji?"

"We split up. We had a lot between us." Blue said.

"You left him?"

"Not really. We just went our own ways."

"Oh..."

"That old man followed us to the last city as well." Kiba stated.

"Yea...that old man will chase wolves no matter where he goes." Blue said.

"But Blue you're also a wolf." Esmeralda said.

"By the way, where is that girl?" She asked.

"You mean Cheza?" Esmeralda asked.  
"Cheza?"

"Yea...well she..."

"How should I say this...now is not the best time to talk about her. How about we search for food?" Hige suggested.

"Well...Blue? Want to tag along?" Esmeralda asked.

"I refuse." Tsume said.

"What? It's dangerous for a woman like her to go on alone." Hige said.

"Why should I tag along with her? Did you forget that she used to be with that old man?" Tsume said.

"Yeah, I know but-" Esmeralda said.

"Sorry Esmeralda, but I have to agree." Toboe said.

"So you're going to ditch her?" Hige asked.

"It's okay Esmeralda, Hige, I don't want to play around with kids either. See ya." Blue left and Hige went after her.

"You guys, that was cold of you."

"Hige, wait!" Esmeralda called out.

"Leave him be. Cheza told her that she was half wolf." Kiba said.

"Eh?" Toboe was confused.

"She must have awoken after meeting Cheza." Kiba said.

"Cheza..." Esmeralda mumbled. She just remembered about the dream she had when Darcia knocked her out and she wanted to tell Blue about her dream. But...she left and she doesn't know where she is.

"Esmeralda, what's wrong?" Tsume asked.

"Huh...oh nothing."

* * *

A few hours later and they were still waiting for Hige to come back.

"I wonder where Hige went?" Toboe asked.

"He'll be back once the girl dumps him." Tsume said.

"Actually I don't think Blue would dump Hige." Esmeralda said.

"And how would you know that?" Tsume asked.

"I don't know instincts I guess?"

"Instincts...psh."

"Well I'm going to look for him a little while. I'll be back." Toboe left to look for them and now it's just Kiba, Tsume, and Esmeralda.

"Darcia's curse..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"What was that?" Tsume asked.

"Huh...oh I was just thinking of what that guy said before."

"Darcia's curse." Kiba said.

"That's just what we wolves are to the humans." Tsume said.

"I think the humans are confused about our life." Esmeralda said.

"You are growing a bit soft about the humans." Tsume said.

"How's that?"

"You keep mentioning the old man with care and not disgust. Also to that women in that forest the other day"

"Oyaji and Cher?"

"I don't know their names."

"Well...there are certain types of humans that I don't hate..."

"Seems to me that you don't hate humans anymore."

"That's not the reason..."

"Then what is the true reason of you softening up on the humans?"

Out of nowhere a gun shot was fired and it almost hit Esmeralda. She quickly got up to see who shot it and it was the same goons from earlier.

"I found you...you guys are wolves! Jagara pays a good price for the likes of you!" One of the men shouted. "

Jagara?" Esmeralda wondered.

The guy loaded his gun and pointed it at her and he fired. As the gun was fired, Tsume pushed Esmeralda and he was shot on the arm.

"Tsume!"

"Run!" Kida shouted.

They start running as more gun shots were fired and Esmeralda sees that Tsume is in huge pain on his arm. She quickly ran to his side to help him run. "Tsume, are you alright?"

"Don't worry, it just grazed me."

* * *

Soon they came upon a small camper truck and there were two old people living there.

"Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?" The old woman said before an old man came out and pointed his gun towards them.

'Great, another person to shoot us?' Esmeralda said in her head.

"Elmaida, stand back."

"We have no intention to hurt you" Kiba said.

"Honey, it's alright. There just kids."

"Don't be ridiculous, there stray dogs!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Elmaida, I'm not joking just look at them!"

Suddenly Hige, Toboe and Blue came to them and the old man shot them but he missed.

'I guess it's time to put on my puppy face.' Esmeralda just showed him her wolf side and made a little puppy pout to him. 'Humans always fall for something like this.'

"We won't do anything to you. Just leave us alone." Kiba said.

Esmeralda just continues her pout as Kiba kept convincing the old man to let them go. There were voices of the goons and they were saying 'there over there!' and 'I hear something over here!'

"They're trying to capture us… do you really need to see some killing?" Tsume said.

It seems that the old man is still not listening so Esmeralda walked up to him and she begged him to pet her. "Fine! I'll protect you guys...I have a plan."

The old man's plan was to pretend that he had shot Hige and Toboe and the rest of them were to hide. The goons came and fell for the plan. Esmeralda heard the guy say something like 'tch she don't want them dead. It's no use lets go back' and they left.

"It's clear now" The old woman said.

* * *

They came out from hiding and the old man came to pet Esmeralda. She felt comfortable so she just sat there. The old woman cooked them some food and they all ate. She said that they are traveling and that this car is there house. She also mentioned that they would travel until they die and that the car is also there coffin. Esmeralda felt bad after hearing that but she knew that humans are meant to die when there time is up.

"The worst coffin we've seen is Darcia's castle." The old woman said.

"Darcia's castle?" Kiba asked.

"Yes, it's down in the south."

"Well...old timer is right...we are wolves." Kiba said.

"We better get going." Hige said.

"Yea." Toboe agreed.

Esmeralda changed back and said bye to the old couple. "Later, old man. Thank you for the food old woman." She said.

"Where are you going?" The old man asked.

"The castle in the south." Kiba announced.

* * *

They all started running and Esmeralda asked Tsume if his arm was alright. "Are you still hurt?"

"I'm okay. You defiantly have changed with the humans. You wouldn't have let the old man pet you if you still hated humans."

"I told you there is a reason to why I've soften."

"Esmeralda, what's wrong?" Blue asked.

"Nothing..."

The fact that she knows what really happened to her friends...plus since they're heading to Darcia's castle...she going to have a long talk with him. 'He is the reason to why I hated humans before...I hope we can also get Cheza back from Darcia...and I'll make sure that I'll finish Darcia once and for all the pain he caused me...'


	13. Chapter 13

The gang was still on their journey to Darcia's castle.

'Who is Jagara? So many things are going on now...what has this world gone into?' Esmeralda thought before she asked Kiba, "Kiba can we take a break? My feet are tired."

"Sure. I think we've traveled enough for the day."

"Phew! My feet are tired too!" Toboe said.

"Come on Blue, let's go gather some food." Hige said.

"Okay..."

"Make sure to bring some good food." Toboe said.

"Don't worry, we will." Hige said before he and Blue left to get food while Esmeralda just sat down and looked at the surroundings.

She didn't even notice that their resting spot is a nice spot for a great view. They have stopped in another town and she could see the ocean and a castle from far away. 'That castle is most likely Darcia's castle. It might also be Jagara, whatever or whoever she is.' She thought.

"Esmeralda." She looked up at Tsume.

"Yes...Tsume?"

"Come have a walk with me."

"Um ok?"

"Make sure not to be gone for long." Toboe said.

"We won't." Tsume started walking and Esmeralda followed him. She began to wonder why he wanted her to have a walk with him. "Esmeralda?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't pull this bullshit, I know something is up."

"How did you know?"

"You have been acting strange ever since that girl left us and that woman came by."

She looked down and said, "...I don't want to tell you..."

"Suit yourself." Tsume started walking back to the others while she just stood here and think, 'If I do tell Tsume about that dream I had...'

"Wait! I'll tell you what's going on!" Tsume had stopped walking and stood there, waiting for her to talk. "Ever since I was knocked out by Darcia...I had this weird dream..."

"Weird dream?"

"Yea...remember how I told you about my past, about what happened to my friends and how I got the scar on my right eye. Well, as soon as I saw Darcia...that dream came to my senses and I realized that he was the cause of it all..."

"He what?!"

"He was the reason why my friends are dead. While fighting against a noble, I met Darcia at the time and he told me about the human body to cover the wolf's side...so I did that and I got the scar from the noble...that was when...I started to hate humans..."

"So that Darcia guy tried to kill you?"

"Yea...what I want to know is...why?"

"And he's the only one who knows the answer?"

"Yeah...I could tell he knows…it just made me sad...why is he here anyways…" after thinking so much tears started to come out of her eyes. It was embarrassing for her to let Tsume see her cry but she was very confused right now. 'Maybe I should talk to Blue right now...' She thought.

"It's such a pain to see you cry." Tsume had this thumb out and wiped the tears away from her eyes. She couldn't help but to blush.

'Why is he being so kind and generous to me?' She asked herself.

"Stop crying."

"Sorry..."

"Let's go back."

"Yeah..."

Tsume held his hand out for her to get up. She gladly took his hand and they were walking back in silence.

* * *

When they got back, Hige and Blue were already there with no food. "Sorry guys, we couldn't find any food in site." Hige complained.

"I saw a kid tried to steal food but he was stopped by the people and there is too many of them watching." Blue said.

"Aww no food..." Toboe complained.

"Well I wasn't that hungry anyways..."

For the next few minutes it was silent. Esmeralda can tell that Kiba was still upset with the whole Cheza situation.

"Hey you guys, it's that way right?" Toboe asked, pointing at a direction.

"Right." Hige replied.

"We're actually going there right?"

"Right."

"Where are you guys going?" Blue asked.

"We're heading to Paradise..." Esmeralda said.

"Paradise?"

"It's a place where every wolf aim for!" Hige said.

"I see...paradise eh?"

"Blue, are you going with us?" Esmeralda asked.

"I can't..."

"If you're not going then I'm not going..." Hige said with his arms crossed.

"Hige..." Blue stared at Hige.

"Hige, you're an idiot..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"You'll probably be happier living with the humans. It's not too late you know." Kiba said.

"What are you talking about Kiba?" Hige asked.

"I don't intend to go back...I can't go...the way it was before." Blue said before looking down.

"Blue..."

"I just...I just want to know what I am."

"Then there's no choice but to keep moving forward." Kiba said.

"He's right! We just have to keep going forward right?" Hige asked.

"I can see it right through you" Tsume said.

"It'd be perfect if Cheza was here..." Toboe said before Esmeralda quickly covered his mouth after hearing Cheza name. She knew that Kiba was still upset and she didn't want any mention of her name around him.

"Toboe, you idiot, don't mention that around here. Alright since we're leaving paradise should that..." Hige said.

"That way..." Kiba pointed at a direction.

"Huh? I thought we're going to paradise."

"We're going to Darcia's castle first."

"That's where Cheza is?" Toboe asked.

"Yeah."

"You know she left us on her own right?" Tsume asked.

"She did that to protect us..." Esmeralda said.

"She's definitely waiting for us." Kiba said.

"That noble will be too." Tsume said.

"I know."

"We might be killed."

"We can worry about that...when the right time comes." Esmeralda said.

"Just protect yourselves okay?" Tsume asked.

"Right"

"So we're going to save Cheza right?" Toboe asked.

"Alright, let's go!" Hige cheered.

They were about to run but Esmeralda notice Blue just sitting there. "Blue, lets go."

"Come on!" Hige held out his hand to Blue and she started to run with them.

They are now heading south...towards Darcia's castle. 'I hope Cheza is alright...if she gets harmed...then Darcia will pay for this...'


	14. Chapter 14

The gang was running on a dirt trail, leaving the dust behind as they run. "Man, I'm getting tired!" Hige complained as he left to the ground on his face, causing everyone to stop and look back at Hige with Blue on his side.

"Oh, come on Hige. It's not that far." Esmeralda said after she placed her hands on his hips.

"No offense, Esmeralda, but this isn't what I call a shortcut." Tsume said.

"Yeah, plus I'm getting hungry. I blame you for claiming that you know a shortcut." Hige complained some more.

"It is shortcut, plus I thought you said that you guys said you wanted to meet my clan." Esmeralda as she turned around and continued walking into the direction they were heading.

"Wait, you mean…" Toboe mumbled.

"Yeah, we're really close by."

Hige suddenly jumped on his feet and ran ahead of her. "Alright!"

Esmeralda sighed before she said, "Come on, guys. Let's get moving."

They ran beside her and finally caught up with Hige. As they got close to Esmeralda's home, they noticed a lot of wolves were running around, cubs playing with each other, wolves carrying dead animals in their mouths, but what really surprised the gang except for Esmeralda was that everyone stopped what they were doing at staring at Esmeralda with shock and happiness in their eyes.

"Umm…Esmeralda, where are we?" Toboe asked as he looked around the caves and mountains in the area.

"My home. Come on, it's this way." They followed her until they stood in front of a huge cave in their human forms.

* * *

Once they arrived, they noticed three people standing in front of them. One of them was a man who had shaggy midnight black hair that fell to his neck, a pair of red eyes, tanned skinned, wore a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of black shoes.

Another of one of them was a female with long straight white hair that fell to her elbows, a pair of emerald eyes, pale skin, wore a black jacket that went past her hips and the zipper was down, a tight red tube top that covered only her chest, a pair of navy blue jeans, and a pair of brown boots.

The last one was like another version of Esmeralda, except her eyes were red, her hair fell to her shoulders and her hair covered her left eye, and she wore a black spaghetti-strap tank top with a green long sleeve shirt that was transparent, a pair of black jeans, and combat boots.

The man walked towards the group while Esmeralda walked towards him. They glared and growled at each other the man said, "What do you think you're doing here? Get out of my sight!"

"Why don't you move out of my way, you old fart?!" Esmeralda shouted

The man growled before turning into a midnight black wolf and tackled Esmeralda to the ground. Kiba and others were about to jump in when they realized that the man was just licking her face while Esmeralda was laughing.

"Uh…unless they lick themselves to death here, I think we should cool it." Tsume said as he and others relaxed.

The man got off of Esmeralda and turned back into his human form before helping Esmeralda up who was wiping the saliva off her face. The two women ran towards Esmeralda and hugged her.

"Oh, Esmeralda, it's so good to see you again." The white haired woman said. "

Yeah, we've been worrying about you nonstop." The 'other Esmeralda' said.

"I'm sorry that I worried you guys so much." She said as she hugged them back.

They pulled away before Esmeralda and the man hugged each other. "It's so good to have you home."

Esmeralda pulled away and turned to her gang. "Guys, this is my old man and father Ryou, my mom Ayumu, and my twin sister Scarlet. My parents are the ones who taught Scarlet and I everything we needed to know to survive."

Hige began to laugh. "Are you telling us that you were taught by old timers like them?"

The others back away from Hige as Ryou and Ayumu stood in front of him with a glare that could kill.

"Do you find that amusing, you little porker?" Ryou asked which caused Hige to be quiet.

Kiba walked up to Ryou and Ayumu. "Hello, I'm Kiba. It's nice to finally meet the parents of Esmeralda."

"I'm Toboe."

"I'm called Blue."

"Tsume."

"Nice to meet you." Ayumu said.

"Esmeralda, we've seen that you noticed a few new wolves in the pack." Scarlet said.

"Yeah, I did. They don't look like the ones we usually get."

"That's because they're not." Ayumu said.

"What do you mean?" Kiba asked.

Ryou walked to the edge of the mountain and pointed at a huge gang of bad looking wolves. "That pack belongs to my older brother. He's been planning to overrun me for years. He thinks that we should follow his way of life instead of our own." He explained.

"Then why aren't you doing anything about it?" Tsume asked.

"That's the thing. I can't." Ryou looked down in shame, which worried Esmeralda.

"What does he mean?" Blue wondered.

"Let's just say that things have changed since Esmeralda left home." Ayumu said as she and Scarlet looked away.

Esmeralda walked towards her family and said, "I have missed you guys."

"And we have missed you…" Scarlet said before she and their parents kneeled down on their knees to her. "Princess Esmeralda."

Esmeralda looked out on the edge to see all the wolves in her clan kneeled for her as well.

"Princess?!" Kiba and others were shocked.

"Oh yeah, I'm the first in line for running my father's pack if something were to happen to him. I guess I forgot to mention that to you guys." Esmeralda explained as she and her family walked inside the cave.

"Tsume, did you know that?" Toboe wondered.

"Let's just go." Tsume said as he walked inside with the rest following him.

* * *

Everyone was outside in the bonfire, even Kiba and the others. However Tsume didn't see Esmeralda or Scarlet around.

"Come one! Come all!" One of the male wolves shouted as he appeared out of nowhere next to Ryou and Ayumu. "Hurry, hurry, here's your chance. Here's your chance to see the mystery and romance."

When he left, Ayumu giggled while Ryou patted her head gently with a smile.

"Come on, everyone! Come see the finest girls in our pack. Make an entrance to entrance; Dance la Scarlet and Esmeralda…Dance!"

On the last word, he disappeared out of thin air and Esmeralda and Scarlet appeared in his place. Esmeralda wore a gypsy style burgundy dress with a teal waist scarf with gold coins and teal sheer sleeves with burgundy sequins while Scarlet wore a gypsy style green dress with a black waist scarf with gold coins and black sheer sleeves with green sequins. They also had a golden anklet on both of their feet.

All of the male wolves including Tsume were awed struck at the sister's beauty; Tsume was focusing his attention on Esmeralda. Music filled the air as the girls began to dance around the bonfire and danced with each other at some moments.

"I didn't know Esmeralda could dance like that!" Toboe exclaimed.

"How beautiful." Blue added.

Esmeralda and Scarlet spotted their father and ran over to him. Esmeralda pulled out a transparent purple scarf and wrapped it around his neck playfully; Scarlet used it to pull him closer to his daughters. They moved in to kiss him on his cheek, but jumped away at the last second. Ryou chuckled at their amusement as well as some others.

Scarlet continued her dance while Esmeralda did a cartwheel. She did a split and flipped her head back to see Tsume looking at her. She smiled and winked at him. Tsume saw this and blushed a bit. Two random wolves tossed a spear, one for Scarlet and one for Esmeralda after she got up. They caught the spear, stuck it in the ground and spun around before doing a theatrical pose. They came together and did a final pose.

The whole clan started cheering for them, even Esmeralda's friends cheered for them. Ryou and Ayumu applauded them for their great performance as Esmeralda and Scarlet threw the spears in the fire and sat next to their parents.

Ryou stood up and shouted, "Can I have everyone's attention?" Everyone got quiet and looked at him. "I like to welcome back my daughter, Esmeralda, and welcome her friends to our home."

Everyone cheered as Esmeralda waved at them. Some girls bought out a big plate of rabbit meat, deer meat, and some bird meat.

"Go on guys, eat up." Esmeralda said as her friends were shocked at the large amount of food they were offered.

Suddenly, everyone grabbed as much as they can and ate it quickly before going to another piece of meat. "I'm guess you've got your manners while traveling." Tsume joked.

"Hurry or you'll not get any!" Esmeralda shouted before she went back to eating.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Hige exclaimed before he and the others grabbed some meat and ate.

* * *

After everyone was done eating, they heard running noises. Esmeralda looked up to see a pack of wolves were coming their way. Everyone kneeled down; including Esmeralda and her family. Kiba and the others did the same. The pack stopped their running and stood in front of Ryou and his family.

"All hail the leader of our pack!" Ryou shouted. Esmeralda looked up and gasped to see who it was.

The leader was a male wolf with midnight black fur and crimson-red eyes; but in his human form, he had long black hair that fell to his mid-back, crimson-red eyes, a red band over his head with his fringe emerging over it, tanned skinned, a black leather jacket, black fingerless gloves, a white beater, black pants, and black shoes.

"Uncle Leon?!"

"Surprised to see me, my little niece?"

She glared at him and shouted, "Surprise to see that you're still alive!"

He glared at her. "Oh, that? Well, after you replace me as the leader of the attack force, I got bored. So, I took off, ran a wolf pack of my own, and defeated your father for his title as leader of his pack. But enough about me, I've got a surprise for you."

He and the wolves behind him stepped aside to reveal a male wolf in his human form. He has grayish hair, blue eyes, peach skinned, wearing a blackish-brown zipped-up jacket with a red shirt underneath, a dog tag, a pair of tanned/beige pants, and black and white shoes. He walked towards Esmeralda, grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on the top of her hand; surprising Esmeralda in the process.

"Esmeralda, meet your new mate Masaki." In the background, Tsume was glaring at Masaki while he and the other wolves behind him stood on their feet.

A brief moment of silence filled the air until Esmeralda said, "My…mate? But I can't…"

"You can and you will. You see, my little niece, this young wolf is my second-in-command and a prince of a very royal wolf pack. I was thinking that I would kick back and relax here while Masaki takes control of my pack. I arranged this marriage just so you could save your precious home with the power of yours and his pack combined. If the wolf can't mark his mate, then you can kiss your home and people goodbye." Leon explained.

Esmeralda looked at her family before closing her eyes. Masaki pulled Esmeralda into his arms, bringing her closer to him. "I'm sure that we'll be…very happy together." Esmeralda said before Masaki placed his thumb and first finger on her chin and made his look into his eyes.

"I can't wait to take you to my homeland. I'm sure you're going to love it." Masaki said.

"Which, I should tell you, is very far away. We shall celebrate my niece's wedding at moonset, tonight!" Leon announced before everyone cheered except for Esmeralda, her friends and family, and Masaki.

"Esmeralda, are you sure?" Blue asked.

"Yes."

"Take the princess to her cave so she can prepare." Leon ordered before two of his men followed Esmeralda to her room/cave.

"And keep an eye on her friends." Causing them to glare at Leon, who smirked and walked away. Tsume narrowed his eyes at his back.

* * *

Kiba and the others were inside a cave that Scarlet showed for them to rest a bit. "I can't believe that Esmeralda grew up in a place that looks so much fun!" Toboe said.

"You said it! I wouldn't mind living here forever." Hige said as he laid back.

"How could you even think about stupid things like that? We can't let Esmeralda go through with this; after all we've been through." Tsume said as he clutched his fist until his knuckles were white.

Kiba smirked at Tsume and asked, "Are you sure that you're not…jealous?"

"Of that guy?! You saw her face, she doesn't even like him."

"That may be true, but maybe she doesn't need to. Things are different here; who are we to question her culture?" Blue asked.

"Her uncle set the whole thing and he's bad news in my book. How do we know if any of this is really?" Tsume brought up a good point.

"Alright then, Hige, Toboe, the three of us are going to check out Leon's pack. Blue, see what you can learn about Masaki. And Tsume, you could…" Kiba turned to see Tsume was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Toboe wondered.

"Probably to go see Esmeralda…" Kiba mumbled.

* * *

Kiba, Hige, and Toboe were sneaking around the area where Leon's clan was hanging out at. While walking, Toboe tripped over something and made him fall.

"What the heck are you trying to do? Trying to get us cau-"

"Wait. It's quiet…Way too quiet." Kiba stated before he looked in a cave to see some of Ryou's men in cages, looking weak, tired and hungry.

"Wolves in cages?"

"They've locked up some of Ryou's men." Hige stated.

"That means that there was no army." Toboe added before they heard noises from behind them. They turned around and saw some of Leon's men in their wolf form surrounding them.

"And it looks like Leon doesn't want anyone to find out.

* * *

Blue was wondering around Masaki's cave, trying to look for something there is to know about Masaki. She picked up a piece of a bone with some dead meat and flies on it.

"How disgusting." She muttered.

She put it back before she noticed a box at a corner. Right when she was about to look inside, she heard Masaki and Leon's voice. She hid somewhere where they wouldn't find her as they walked inside.

"Yes, my plan was brilliant, wasn't it Masaki?" Leon asked.

"Yes, sir. It was."

They walked to where the box was at as Blue looked up from behind a pile of something she doesn't care about at the moment.

"As we agreed, I give you my annoying little niece and you give me…" Masaki opened the box to reveal a dagger with a red jewel at the end of the handle. "Your great-grandfather's weapon. Sylvan Dagger."

Leon grabbed the dagger and clutched it in his hand. "With this weapon in my hands, I will control my brother's clan with an iron fist! No one will dare challenge me!"

Masaki noticed something and turned into his brown wolf form before tackling Blue to the ground. Blue tried to get out of his grip, but he was too strong for her to do anything.

"Well done, Masaki. You've discovered a spy." Leon said as he stood over them.

* * *

Esmeralda looked over at the dress she has to wear for the wedding she was forced to do. She started to remember all the times she spent with Tsume and others while journeying to paradise.

"Esmeralda." She heard a whispered and looked to see Tsume at the entrance.

"Tsume, thank goodness you're…I mean, I trust you're enjoying your stay?" Esmeralda asked as he walked towards her.

"Come on, we're getting out of here."

Esmeralda's happy face turned into a sad face as she looked down to the ground. "Tsume, I'm sorry but…I can't do that." Esmeralda turned her back at Tsume.

"Esmeralda, I know you. I know that you don't want to mate with this guy."

Mating Masaki is the only thing I can do for my pack; especially with the mistake I've made in the past. It's best for everyone."

"It's not the best for you."

"Tsume, if you can't be happy for me, then…don't even attend to my wedding." Her words shocked Tsume.

"Esmeralda…" Esmeralda turned to see Tsume was not there anymore. She sighed to herself before walking back in and getting herself ready.

* * *

The wolves dragged Tsume to a huge cage and threw him inside with Kiba, Hige, Toboe, and Blue.

"So…I guess we're going to miss the wedding?" Hige wondered.

"I couldn't talk her out of it. She has to mate with that guy…for her pack." Tsume said.

"No, she doesn't." Blue said.

"It's all a lie; Leon's army, the war, everything. Leon set her up." Kiba added.

"Then we have to tell Esmeralda the truth; before it's too late."

* * *

Esmeralda stared at the white dress she was wearing. Her dress was an off-the-shoulder dress that covered her ankles with sleeves covering her hand just a bit. She turned around and saw Ryou walking towards her.

"You look just like your mother when she and I were mating." Esmeralda looked away from her father. "What's the matter, Esmeralda?"

She looked up and smiled at him. "Nothing, everything is alright."

"Now, don't you even try to fool your own father; don't forget that your mother and I raised you and your sister." He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Your mother, Scarlet, and I have always expected great things from you, Esmeralda. Tonight, however, is no exception."

"Yes, I must do what is right for my pack, for the mistake I've made in the past." Esmeralda said as she looked down.

He placed a hand under her chin and made her look up. "You must do what is right…in your heart. Also, what happened in the past was not your fault. I'm sure they would've agreed if they were here right now."

"Ahem." They looked up to see Leon at the entrance. "Ready, Esmeralda?"

She turned to Ryou before they hugged each other. They pulled away and followed Leon.

* * *

Everyone was outside, waiting for the wedding to start. Music began to play as everyone looked at their right to see Esmeralda walking down with her Ryou.

While that was going on, Kiba and the others turned into their wolf forms and began to fight Leon's men while making their way to the wedding.

Once Esmeralda and Ryou made it to the front, Leon stood in front of her and Masaki while Ayumu and Scarlet stood to the side. Ryou turned towards Masaki and growled at him, which scared Masaki a bit. Ryou let out of Esmeralda and walked to his mate and daughter as Masaki stood side by side with Esmeralda. She looked around and noticed that Tsume and the others weren't around. She turned to Leon and asked, "Where are my friends?"

"Don't know, I guess they had better things to do. Now smile pretty for your new mate." Esmeralda slightly smiled at Masaki, who smiled back. "My brothers and sisters, we are gathered here at moonset to bind Esmeralda with this handsome young wolf in a joyous betrothal. Can any among us offer any reason why these two wolves should not be together forever?" Leon said.

No one said a thing, which is what Leon wants.

"I didn't think so." Leon turned his head to Masaki. "Do you, Masaki, take Esmeralda to be your mate as decreed the leader of the pack?"

"I do." Masaki said.

"And do you, Esmeralda, take Masaki to be your mate?"

She looked at Masaki. "I…I…"

"Yes, Esmeralda?"

"Esmeralda!" She turned to the voice and gasped when she was Tsume in his wolf form fighting one of Leon's men. The fight got everyone confused and asked what was going on.

"Silence. Silence!" Leon turned to Esmeralda. "Do you wish to do what is right and take him to be your mate?"

"I do…not!" Esmeralda glared at Leon.

He got so mad that he pulled out the Sylvan Dagger and aimed it at Esmeralda. "You bitch!"

Just when Leon was about to strike her down, Esmeralda jumped out of the way. "I thought we agreed you would do what is best for your pack, Esmeralda! You will mate with Masaki!"

Suddenly, Tsume and the others ran up to Esmeralda from behind before Esmeralda looked back. "Esmeralda! It's a trick, all of it! Your uncle has been lying to everyone."

Everyone was surprised at what they just found out as Esmeralda turned her head to Leon and glared at him. "You're not the best leader for this clan!"

"You dare challenge the leader?!"

Esmeralda ripped off the dress, revealing her regular clothes underneath. "I challenge my uncle…for the crown!"

Esmeralda and Leon turned into their wolf forms and began to attack each other with the dagger in Leon's mouth.

"Esmeralda!" Tsume was about to jump in to help her, but a hand stopped him.

"No." He turned to Ayumu who had her hand out. "If anyone interferes, the challenge is void."

"Which means that…my older sister would lose." Scarlet added.

"Let's not forget, Esmeralda can handle herself." Kiba said as he watched the battle.

Esmeralda have been dodging Leon's attack before she jumped over him and landed on a cliff. She kicked off some huge rocks with her legs, but Leon cut them in half. He looked up and noticed that Esmeralda tackled him to the ground. They rolled around on the ground, Esmeralda biting Leon on the neck while Leon tried stabbing her. He kicked her off and made her fly to hit a boulder. She turned into a human again before she got up and kicked some more huge rocks at Leon until dust covered him. She stopped kicking the rocks to see if it did anything.

Once it cleared up, it revealed that Leon was okay without a scratch on it. He turned into a human and waved the dagger in his hand. "Sylvan Dagger. With this, I'm invincible." He active the power of the dagger and each time he swings the dagger around, powerful air was hitting her. It was so powerful; it made her crash against a boulder.

"Besides…" Leon stood in front of her. "You'll always be my little niece."

Esmeralda glared at him as she stood up. "I am not so little anymore!" She grabbed a chuck of a rock and bashed his head to the side. He fell and grabbed his bleeding forehead. They got into fist-punching, kicking, and dodging each other's attack while Toboe, Hige, and Scarlet cheered her on. Leon pinned her down with the dagger next to her neck.

"You've grown weaker, Esmeralda." She kicked him off before they rolled down the mountain and ended up back to where the rest of the wolves were at with Esmeralda on her hands and knees and Leon standing in front of her. "That's right, bow down before your leader."

She glared at him and shouted, "You may be the leader of this pack, but you are not my leader!" He sent another powerful air at her, but she dodged it and got close to him. Right when she was about to punch him on the stomach, Leon jumped out of the way and noticed that Esmeralda was hiding something behind her back. He looked at his hand and noticed that dagger was gone.

"No…No!" She pulled out the dagger she stole and turned to her father.

"Father, catch!" She threw the dagger and Ryou caught it without hurting himself. Esmeralda turned to Leon and glared at him before going over to him and beat him up with her punches and kicks.

She jumped out of the way and looked to see Leon was down for the count and took off the red band from his head before tying it around her head.

She turned to all the wolves and shouted, "The challenge is complete! This clan has a new leader!" Everyone cheered for her as Masaki walked up to her with a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Masaki, but there will not be a wedding."

"As excepted. If that is what you wish." He said.

"Also, I hereby banish my uncle from ever entering this place again." Esmeralda ordered as Leon was starting to wake up.

"Banish?!" He shouted as he stood up. "Are you joking?! Where am I supposed to live?!"

"Don't look at me." Masaki said as he turned his head the other way.

Leon was being taking away by his former men. "I won't forget this, Esmeralda!"

Tsume walked towards Esmeralda when she turned to face him. "So…now that you're the leader of this pack…I guess you'll be staying here?"

"I must do what it is best for my pack." She said before walking away.

* * *

All the wolves from below cheered on Esmeralda as she stood by her family and her friends were to the side.

"All hail Esmeralda!" Ryou cheered. The wolves cheered. "

Someone one very wise once told me that I have to listen to my heart. And so, I overthrew my uncle because he wasn't the best leader for this pack." She turned to Tsume and the others who had a sad look on their face.

She looked back and said, "Now, my heart is telling me…that I'm also not best to be your leader of this pack." All the wolves gasped as her family was shocked at what they just heard. "I've still got to find paradise and the flower maiden with my friends. That is where I belong."

She untied the red band before walking towards Ryou. "However, I'm leaving you in good hands." She tied the red band around Ryou's head. "To the man who took care of me as a cub." She stood to the side and shouted, "All hail Ryou!" All the wolves began to jump and howl with glee now that they've got their old leader back.

* * *

Everyone got off the cliff and right was the bonfire was at. All the female and male wolves were dancing around the bonfire in their human forms, looking happy.

Ryou stood in front of Ayumu with his hand out. "May I have this dance, my love?"

Ayumu blushed and said, "Why certainly." She placed her hand on top before they walked up to the bonfire.

"Got to admit something, Esmeralda, good looks definitely does run in your family." Hige stated.

"Yeah, your parents look just like the king and queen of a fairytale." Blue added.

"You ain't seen anything yet." Scarlet said before KIba and the others were awestruck but how Ryou and Ayumu were dancing. They did a pose where Ayumu was dipped down low while Ryou held her up with his arm around her waist.

"Ayumu is wonderful and Ryou looks so cool!" Toboe exclaimed.

Scarlet turned to Esmeralda and asked, "So, are you going to dance, Esmeralda?"

She got caught off guard when she heard that question. "Me?! I don't know."

Ayumu looked at Esmeralda as she stood up straight and smirked at her. Esmeralda glared at her, knowing that she was taunting her.

"Uh…Esmeralda?" Scarlet tried to call out for her.

Esmeralda grabbed Tsume by the wrist and pulled him forward. "C'mon, Tsume!"

Esmeralda and Tsume held each other's hand, standing in front of each other. "Okay then, and a one…and a two…and a three…" She mumbled as they began to move with Esmeralda leading.

"Esmeralda…this is impossible!"

"Shut up! I haven't dance since I was a cub on my birthday! Now, take a step forward!"

"Alright." He took a step forward and stepped on her foot, which caused Esmeralda to scream in pain.

"Hey, you said to step forward!" She responded by stepping on his foot, causing him to grunt in pain.

They stopped moving and stood still until they looked up and glared at each other. They turned in circles while trying to step on each other's foot. Ryou and Ayumu stopped moving also and watch them with amusement like a few other wolves did.

"Esmeralda! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!" Scarlet tried to stop them, but she didn't listen. Scarlet started to get worried until Esmeralda and Tsume started to have some fun and dance in their own way. Tsume spin Esmeralda around and twirling her forward before twirling her back in his arms with her back on his chest. They were having so much fun; they were smiling and laughing with joy.

While they were dancing, Scarlet noticed a look on her sister's face that she hadn't seen before. She knew what it was and smiled at her. 'Way to go, sis!'

Ryou and Ayumu smiled at the young wolves before Ayumu asked, "Shall we continue?" He nodded before everyone began dancing again.

Everyone was having so much fun that Hige and Blue went up to the bonfire and began to dance.

"Umm…Kiba, Toboe?" They looked at Scarlet. "Thank you so much for taking such good care of my sister and for this amazing day. May I have the privilege of one of you two to dance with me, please?"

"I'll do it!" Toboe said before they both walked up to the bonfire and danced along with the wolves.

Tsume and Esmeralda were still dancing as they were talking, "I'm glad you still get to be with us on this journey…and not get married." Tsume said as he looked away to hide his blushed cheeks.

"Yeah, I want to find paradise, Cheza, and maybe find a mate of my own. Who knows, maybe I'll find one on the way to paradise." Esmeralda said with a smile.


	15. Chapter 15

It was winter and snowing heavily. Esmeralda could tell that they were almost at Darcia's castle but she couldn't see anything with this much snow in the way.

"Kiba, I think we should rest." Hige said.

"Not now...we're almost there." Kiba said.

"But there are women and children here!"

"Hige, we can manage." Blue said.

"Yeah. I'm not tired at all." Toboe said.

"I don't have a problem with this at all." Esmeralda said.

"From the looks of it, it looks like that you are the only one who wants to take a break." Tsume said.

"No...That's not what I mean." Hige said.

"Well, we do sorta need a rest...if we're almost at Darcia's castle...then we must take a rest before we head there. Who knows what might happen there." Esmeralda said.

"Fine then, we'll rest at that thing over there." Tsume said.

There was an abandon ship at the middle of the snowy desert and they all rested inside. Kiba was silent the whole time.

'I know he's not happy with this decision but it's not his fault…we all want to get Cheza back.' Esmeralda thought to herself.

Everyone had fallen asleep but her. For some reason, she just couldn't sleep. 'Might as well keep a close eye to the snowstorm in case if it stopped snowing any minute.' She thought.

A few minutes have passed and all she has done was playing with her hair. It was so boring with nothing to do for her. She looked towards Tsume's sleeping state. She felt a lot of confusion towards him but she knew that she was in love with him. 'One thing is...why can't I confront him about it? Is it really that hard for me to confess my love to him?' She thought as she thought of the time when she and Tsume were dancing at her homeland.

"Esmeralda..." She jumped up and looked around for the voice that called her. 'I could have sworn I heard a voice.'

"Esmeralda...follow me..." There was the voice again.

She didn't think straight and followed the voice. She was headed out into the snowstorm and head straight ahead to wherever she heard it.

After a few minutes of running, Esmeralda stopped in front of a castle. She didn't know that the voice would lead her to a castle, Darcia's castle.

"Enter the castle." The voice said to her.

"What is this voice I'm hearing...who are you?" She wondered.

"Enter the castle...and you'll see me..."

Esmeralda smashed through the doors and continued to follow the voice. It had led her to a big room which is most likely the master room. She slowly opened the doors and she saw Cheza standing in the middle of the room. Also she saw Darcia standing next to a dead body. The dead body was a woman with extremely long beautiful light greenish-blonde hair with a face of a pure soul. Esmeralda gasped when she realized that the dead body was the voice that had led her to the castle.

"Cheza!" Esmeralda called.

"Esmeralda..." Cheza started to run towards her but Darcia popped out of nowhere and grabbed her.

"Cheza! Darcia put her down!" Esmeralda shouted.

Darcia just glared at her and threw Cheza about ten feet away from them. She got so mad; she turned into her wolf form and started to run towards Darcia and attacked him while he did the same. They both attacked and Esmeralda dropped to the ground with a cut on her face.

"So you've come for revenge huh wolf?" Darcia asked.

"I remember you from the past...you were the one who ruined everything that made me happy!" She shouted.

"Your wolf life was just the past. You should realize that this is what your destiny is made of."

"...then why did you decide to ruin my life?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"...because there are a lot of things that had happen and I want answers!"

"And so you came here for answers?"

"No...I followed a voice that led me here."

"What voice?"

"HER voice." Esmeralda pointed to the dead body and when she pointed at her, Darcia went crazy.

"Harmona, you did that? Well it doesn't matter. There is no point in my beloved anymore now that you are dead. There is no need for your future anymore..." Darcia mumbled to himself.

Out of nowhere, Esmeralda heard gun shot and the bullet almost hit her. She jumped and stepped back to see where it came from. It was Oyaji standing at the doorway.

"O-Oyajii…" She said before she quickly ran towards Cheza and carried her. Soon Cher and a man in a suit entered the room.

"Esmeralda..." Cher mumbled.

"Esmeralda? A friend of yours Cher?"

"Ah...Cher..." Esmeralda mumbled before she looks towards Oyaji and he was pointing his gun towards her. "Oyaji stop!" Calling out to him didn't work for her. 'Has he forgotten me?' She asked herself.

Just as Oyaji was about to shoot Esmeralda, Blue popped out of nowhere and blocked her view as a wolf which stopped Oyaji from shooting.

"Blue..." He mumbled.

"Esmeralda! Cheza!" Esmeralda turned to see Kiba.

"Kiba!"

"Esmeralda!" She looked to see Tsume. "Tsume!"

Suddenly the castle was shaking and there were red beams everywhere. The whole castle had split into fours and Esmeralda got separated from everyone. She still had Cheza with her and she landed near Cher.

"Give me Cheza." Cher said.

"What?" Cher grabbed Cheza from her and they all ran.

Esmeralda tried to look for Tsume and the others but she just couldn't find them. So she followed Cher to get Cheza back from her. She noticed a group of armed soldiers and she heard Cher mentioned 'Jagara'.

'So I'm guessing these are Jagara's armies.' Esmeralda thought to herself.

She attacked the group as a wolf and led Cher and the man to a different direction but then she got hit by one of the shields. She was knocked out for a while.

Esmeralda had awakened and she saw that she was in a cage and was being carried away to Jagara's ship. She looked around and saw Cher and the man being taken away too. Esmeralda quickly tried to look for Cheza and found her being carried away to a different ship.

She used her teeth to break free from the cage while the ship was starting to move. Luckily, it broke then she headed for the exit. When she saw a nearby window to break through, she jumped out from it and landed on the wing of the ship. From there, she notice the ship was high up in the sky from Darcia's castle but she thinks that she can manage to jump and land there safely. She jumped from the ship and looked back at the other ships.

'I have failed to save Cheza and now she is being held captive by Jagara. So are Cher and that man that was with her. Oyaji disappeared which makes me wonder if he had survived.' She thought.

She landed on the bricks but twisted her ankle a bit on her landing. She watched the ships disappear and tears started to form in her eyes. Without thinking, she turned into her wolf form and howled so that the others could find her.

Luckily they did found her within a minute. Tsume ran faster than everyone else and got to her first. "Esmeralda you idiot! Why did you went ahead and try to do all of this yourself!?" Tsume shouted.

"I'm sorry...I heard and voice and followed it...I didn't know it would lead me to Darcia's castle..." Esmeralda said as she looked down.

"At least we know you're okay." Hige said.

"Yeah, we were really worried." Toboe added.

"Where's Cheza?" Kiba asked.

That was when the tears came out from her eyes. "I tried to save her...but Jagara took her from me...I failed to save her..." She said.

"It's not your fault..." Tsume said before he hugged her which gave her a lot of confusion. At first he was scolding her and now he is caring for her.

'Why am I in love with such a kind man...' She asked herself. "Wait...where's Blue?" She asked.

"She...disappeared too..." Hige replied as he looked down.

"Could she have been taken by Jagara too?" She wondered.

"Did you see her with them?" Toboe asked.

"I'm not sure..." She tried to get up but her ankle hurt her so much, she fell back down.

"Tch jump on my back." Tsume said as his back was facing her.

"What?"

"Just do it!"

She jumped on Tsume's back and they all started walking towards god knows where. 'I still haven't gotten the answers I want from Darcia and I also wonder what happened to him...have he died or did he disappear too?...' Esmeralda asked herself.


	16. Chapter 16

**This is a flashback of how Esmeralda met Tsume.**

_Esmeralda, in her human form, was walking through a city that was filled with humans. She glared at the humans that were staring at her, especially the male humans who wouldn't stop checking her out. She noticed that some people were getting ready for something fun. She saw a little girl running with her friends, even though it goes against her pride, she called the little girl over. _

"_Yes, miss?" _

_Esmeralda kneeled down to her level and asked, "Could you tell what's going on in this town?" _

"_We're having a festival!" The girl replied with a smile. _

"_A festival?" _

"_A celebration of our town being created. It's really fun!" The girl left, leaving Esmeralda to stand up straight. _

"_A festival for celebrating their town being built…How lame..." She scratched the back of her head and said, "Oh well, I guess it couldn't hurt to go and take a look." _

_She started to walk to the center of the city to see a lot of people gathering at the sidewalks as performers were doing their thing while walking down the streets. There was music and cheering that filled the area; it started to give Esmeralda a headache. She also noticed a few gang members were in the crowd as well; but what caught her eye was a guy in leather clothing with a pair of sunglasses on. She could tell right away that he was a wolf like her. _

_Out of nowhere, someone bumped into her and caused her to brake her train of thought. _

"_Hey!" She yelled before she looked down to see a boy on the ground. "Are you alright?" She asked him. _

"_I…uh…I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" he stuttered. _

"_You're not hurt, are you?" She helped the boy up on his feet; when the boy looked up at her, his face turned completely red. _

_She smiled and said, "See, no harm done." The boy got quiet. "Just try to be a little bit more careful." She said before walking past him. _

_He turned and said, "I…I will." _

_She stopped and turned her head to him. "By the way, watch your back kid." She said before jumping up to one of the buildings. He stood there blushing for a moment before he turned to watch the festival._

* * *

_Up on the roof, Esmeralda noticed the humans were doing some sort of contest to crown the festival king. From where she was at, she could tell that everyone was having fun in the contest. The contest went on until of the people won the contest and had a crown on his head. She noticed a platform by the festival and saw a noble glaring, as if he wasn't having a good time at all. When the performers were on the platform, one of them wrapped a cape around the winner; it made the winner smile and shed a couple of tears of joy. _

_Everyone cheered and threw confetti in the air; they were smiling and chanting the person's name. However, two soldiers were watching and didn't seem to agree with the people. Esmeralda gasped when she saw one of the soldiers threw a tomato at the person's left side of his face. _

"_Now that's ugly!" The guy who threw the tomato shouted. _

_Another one threw a tomato and yelled, "Hail to the king!" The tomato hit the guy right in the face. _

_Before long, all kinds of produce were being thrown at him. He tried to dodge at least a few of them, but ended up slipping on a tomato. The people started to laugh at him. Just when the festival king was about to leave, a man lassoed him as he tried to run away. Another man lassoed his wrist and held him down on the platform. Everyone who was watching laughed at the whole thing, except for the wolf she saw. The festival king tried to get free, he even begged for them to stop, but they continued to torment him. Eventually, two other men climbed up to the platform and tied him down._

_They spun the platform around, and as it went by people threw random foods at him. Esmeralda glared at the humans for their cruelty and sick minds. The noble, on the other hand, didn't have any reaction and watched the whole thing with joy. _

_Finally, one of the soldiers turned to the noble and said, "Sir, I request permission to stop this cruelty." _

"_In a moment. A lesson needs to be learned here." He said with a sicken grin. _

"_Leave that man alone!" Everyone gasped and then fell silent. _

_The whole crow, including the noble and the soldier, saw Esmeralda jumped down from the building she was on and walked up to the stage. The festival king looked up and saw her as well; he was scared that she would do something to him as well. _

_She kneeled down to his level and pulled out a cloth from her pocket before she said, "Don't be afraid. I don't think this wasn't supposed to happen." He stayed still while she cleaned up his face a little. _

"_You! Girl!" The noble angrily yelled at Esmeralda. "Get down at once!" _

"_Yes, sir." She replied. "Just as soon as I free this poor man." _

"_I forbid it!" The noble yelled. _

_However, Esmeralda wasn't going to leave him just like that. Sure, she may hate humans but that doesn't mean that they should be treated like this. She pulled out a knife she had been hiding for emergencies and cut the man's ropes. The noble growled and snapped at her, "How dare you defy me!" _

_Esmeralda glared at him and said to him, "You mistreat this poor man the same way you mistreat everyone in this town. You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help." _

"_Silence!" _

"_Justice!" Esmeralda helped the man up. _

"_Mark my words, girl. You will pay for this insolence." The noble threatened. _

_She smirked and taunted, "Then it appears we've crowned the wrong fool. The only fool I see is you!" To prove her point, she removed the crown from the man's head and threw it over at the noble; which caused everyone in the crowd to laugh including the wolf. _

_The noble grew tired of her attitude. "Captain! Arrest her!" He nodded then motioned for the other soldiers to go to where Esmeralda was so that they could arrest her._

_Esmeralda smirked and decided to have some fun and mess with the soldiers. "Well now, let's see." She started to count the soldiers. _

_When she finished counting, she said, "So there's ten of you and one of me. What's a poor girl to do?" She pulled out her cloth again and started to sob. All the soldiers did was stared at the crying girl. However, what they didn't know was that she wasn't really crying. She stopped crying and blew into the cloth. When she did that, a huge cloud of smoke appeared, startling everyone. _

_When the smoke cleared, everyone gasped to see Esmeralda was gone. "Witch craft!" The noble gasped. _

"_Oh, boys! Over here!" yelled a voice. Everyone turned to the direction that the voice came from and saw Esmeralda pretending to be theater masks. _

"_There she is!" One of the soldiers yelled. _

"_Get her!" _

_The two of them charged at her, but she saw them coming and made a run for it. She jumped off the stage and the whole crowd carried her like mad. She even waved 'goodbye' to the soldiers. Not intending to let the girl get away, the soldiers jumped to the crowd. But the crowd moved aside, letting the soldiers fall to the ground. _

_When Esmeralda was out of the crowd, she turned to see three more soldiers charging at her with their weapons. Esmeralda jumped on a cage that a stray animal was trapped in, and swung it in the direction that the soldiers were coming. The cage hit the soldiers, knocking them out cold, but the chain broke and Esmeralda went rolling along with it. _

_A guy on a motorcycle saw the cage coming and started his ride. He turned his head around and saw Esmeralda following him. She waited for just the right moment and then jumped onto the motorcycle before wrapping her arms the guy's waist. Four more soldiers went after Esmeralda, but they were blocked by a guy on stilts. He smiled and kicked all four guards where the sun don't shine; causing them all to scream in pain. The whole crowd started laughing at the scene._

_Esmeralda and the guy looked back and smiled at what happened. They turned around and gasped. Right in front of them was a ramp, which sent them flying. The cage landed right on top of two soldiers that caught up to them and opened up. The animal was happy and got out of the cage before running away in the alley. _

_An angry guard chased Esmeralda around. She saw that a different guy in stilts was coming up and pulled his pants down. The guard wasn't paying attention and got caught in them. Esmeralda smirked as the soldier flew into the air screaming. The wolf watched in amazement as that was going on. The soldier's helmet landed on Esmeralda's head before she took a bow as everyone cheered. _

_She turned around saw three more soldiers running towards her. She grinned and threw the helmet at them like a Frisbee. The soldiers didn't see it coming and were knocked out cold. The helmet was coming towards the wolf, but he ducked just in the nick of time. He looked and commented, "What a she-wolf!"_

_The last two soldiers came charging at Esmeralda with weapons in their hands; she ran off to get away. The soldiers chased after her before they heard a whistle. They looked up and saw another man with stilts who tossed a long pole down. They caught it and continued the chase. Unfortunately for them, they ran right towards the noble's stand. He saw them, gasped, and ducked for cover. His stand was destroyed, and the noble emerged from the rubble looking very upset. _

_For the grand finale, Esmeralda got up on stage and covered herself with a tarp. One of the performers removed the tarp and revealed Esmeralda gone. Everyone clapped at this; even the wolf smiled a bit. _

_The noble, had enough of being humiliated, furiously turned to the crowd and glared at them. They saw his face and frowned as rain clouds appeared. The noble got on his carriage and before he looked at his guard. _

"_Find her, Captain. And I want her alive." He ordered. _

"_Yes, sir." He turned to the other soldiers and said, "Seal off the area! Find the girl, and do not harm her!" _

_As the captain ordered, the soldiers began searching the area for Esmeralda. One of the soldiers even shoved a guy to the ground because he was in the way. The noble left the crowd, letting everyone breathe out of relief and left the area. _

_Just as the wolf was about to leave the area as well, he noticed a midnight black wolf with white-tipped ears and tail was walking around the area before going to the direction of his hangout. He smirked and decided to follow her._

* * *

_When Esmeralda entered into a stone room, she turned back into her human form and looked around. She stood in front of a window to see a huge tree. She narrowed and turned around to grab a weapon before made the person behind her fall down. She pointed the weapon she stole the same wolf she saw and glared at him. "You…" She said with venom in her voice. _

"_Whoa, easy. I just shaved." He said as he backed away slowly from his own weapon that she stole while she got closer. _

"_Oh, really? You missed a spot." _

"_Okay, okay." He mumbled as he stood up slowly with the weapon following him. "Just calm down. I came to apologize." _

"_For what?" He surprised her by getting his weapon back, causing her to fall on the ground. _

"_Well, for that." He said with a smirk. _

_She turned her head and glared at him. "You sneaky son of a-" _

"_Hey, watch the language." _

_She stood up and grabbed a metal pole. She smirked. "Are you always this charming or am I just the lucky one?" They began to attack each other, but they kept blocking each other's attacks. _

"_You know, you fight as good as a male wolf." _

"_Funny, I was gonna say the same thing about you." _

"_Isn't that hitting below the belt?" _

"_No, this is." She attacked from below, he blocked it; but he didn't see the sneak attack she gave him on the head. _

"_Touché." She surprised him again by punching him on his face. "That's one strong fist you got there." _

"_Yeah, well, I don't take kindly to people I don't like." _

"_Yeah. The name Tsume; It means…claw." She stared at him like this _. "And you are?" _

"_Is this an interrogation?" _

"_It's called introduction." He said as he put his weapon away. _

"_You're not here to get rid of me?" _

"_Why would do that to a fellow wolf who knows how to take care of herself?" She stared at him for a moment for throwing the metal pole to the side. _

"_You're not at all like the other wolves I've met." _

"_I'll take that as a compliment." _

_She crossed her arms on her chest and said, "So, if you're not here to get rid of me, then what do you want?" _

"_I'd like to know your name?" _

_She smiled at him. "Esmeralda." _

"_I can see why." _

_Since then, Tsume and Esmeralda were inseparable. They started their own gang with humans working for them. They became leaders, got rid of the noble who was after Esmeralda, and a bunch more crazy stuff happened._


	17. Chapter 17

It snowed heavily once again and there was still no sign of Cheza. Esmeralda's ankle still hurts from the landing a while ago so they couldn't run because of her.

"I think we should start running." Esmeralda suggested.

"Not until that ankle of yours is healed." Tsume said.

"I said that I'm alright. You don't have to worry about me."

"We can't do anything if your handicap and after your healed, we'll find Cheza and continue our search for Paradise." Kiba said.

"Tch, I gave up on that!" Hige shouted.

"Gave up on what exactly?" Esmeralda asked.

"Paradise."

"Why?" Toboe asked.

"Because finding Paradise is useless, even the search for Cheza is useless now. I can't even pick up her scent anymore and I know you can't either, Esmeralda." Hige said.

"Don't make her involved in this!" Tsume shouted.

"But...why are you giving up now? After how far we've come to..." Esmeralda said.

"Well I've never intended to go to Paradise in the first place...so I'm out." Hige said.

"Hige! Don't say that!" Toboe shouted.

"This wouldn't have happened if I haven't met you." Hige said towards Kiba.

Esmeralda knew that he was right. The fact that none of this would've happened if they haven't met Kiba. But that would've meant that she would have never discovered her true feelings for Tsume.

Everyone just stood there for a few minutes until Esmeralda picked up a scent. It was a very familiar scent but she couldn't remember whose scent it was.

"Esmeralda, what's wrong?" Tsume asked.

"I smell something familiar." Esmeralda said.

"Like what?"

Slowly, Esmeralda walked to where she found the scent and was shocked to what she saw. It was Oyaji...and he is unconscious in the snow.

"This guy..." Tsume mumbled.

"O-Oyaji...he...he's almost frozen..." Esmeralda said with worry in her voice.

"Leave him there." Hige said when he looked away.

"Isn't this guy important to Blue?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah…he is..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"Yeah, but do you intend to save him?" Hige asked.

"Well, of course...I want to save him...and he is also important to Blue..."

"Hige...you weren't able to save Blue too..." Toboe mumbled.

After hearing those words, Hige grabbed Toboe and punched him. Esmeralda quickly ran towards Toboe to help him up and she yelled, "Hige! What's your problem!?"

"Tch...We're still looking for Cheza right? So let's go." Hige said before he walked ahead and she looked around to notice that Kiba had disappeared.

"Uh…guy's where's Kiba?" She asked.

"Huh? Kiba disappeared!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Where did that guy go..." Tsume wondered.

"Leave Kiba...He is always a loner. Now let's get going." Hige said before walking forward.

"Esmeralda, let's go." Tsume called out.

"Um…I'll catch up to you later." She said.

"If he wakes up and shoots you, don't come crying to me."

Esmeralda turned her head back to them. "I won't."

"Hurry up okay and be careful" Tsume said.

She smiled at him. "Okay..."

The others went ahead of her and Esmeralda changed to her wolf form. She went to cuddle Oyaji to keep him warm and his whole body was frozen. She felt him pulling her into a hug and she just kept it there. This was the first time she held like that by a human.

"Blue…I'm...sorry…" Oyaji was talking in his sleep but hearing that made tears come out of her eyes. There were tears in his eyes too and she licked them away.

* * *

After being with Oyaji for about a good twenty minutes, she changed back into her human self and started walking towards where the others were. She looked back towards Oyaji and he was starting to wake up so she tried to walk faster to catch up to the others. She passed by the snowy terrain and now she was in a deserted area with lots of rocks to step over. The little terrain made her ankle hurt but she managed.

* * *

After walking for so long, she sensed two humans on a horse chasing after her. They were weird looking humans wearing Native like clothing and they had arrows pointing towards Esmeralda. She tried to run but the pain on her leg had tripped her and an arrow was heading straight towards her so she howled out loud in hope that Tsume would hear her. The arrow that was heading towards her had missed and there was another arrow pointing at her.

Just as it was two feet away from her, Tsume popped up and pushed the arrow away from her. "Tsume!" She called out.

Tsume turned to her and asked, "Are you alright?"

Esmeralda nodded. "Yeah...but my ankle hurts again."

"Esmeralda, we heard you and we ran here as fast as we can." Toboe said when he stood in front of her.

"Yeah..." Hige mumbled.

Tsume and Hige knocked the two humans off their horses and head-locked them to ask them questions.

"Alright, are you one of Jagara's army? If so, then tell us where he is?!" Tsume shouted.

"Jagara?" One of the humans asked.

"Tell us what you have done to the wolves you've been collecting?!"

The human just laughed which got the wolves confused.

"What's so funny?" Esmeralda asked.

"If your wolves, just say so." The human said.

"Huh?" Esmeralda was even more confused.

"Crap...the elder will yell at me for this." The human said.

"How do you know we're wolves?" Tsume asked. With that, Tsume and Hige let go of the humans and they told the wolves to follow them to their village.

* * *

So the wolves just followed but they still didn't trust the humans.

"I am sorry for earlier. You see, there was an attack in our village and they attacked our friends." The human said.

"Well, that wasn't us." Esmeralda said.

"Well, of course, it couldn't have been wolves. The people who attacked our friends were using guns plus we are from the mon-tribe." The human said.

"Mon-tribe?" Esmeralda wondered.

"We believe in wolves."

"You believe in them?" Toboe asked.

"Ah yes...look we're at the village."

They reached to a small village and it was packed full of humans and animals together.

"You all live here?" Esmeralda asked as she looked around in amazement.

"Yes, we travel together. Did you find that weird?" The human asked.

"Well not really..." Esmeralda mumbled.

Soon they stopped by where two young girls were taking care of an injured dog. "How is he doing?" The human asked when he kneeled down to them.

"He is feeling better now."

"He even stopped crying. He drank a lot of milk earlier."

"I see. You girls can leave now." The human said.

"Okay." The girls walked away.

"Is he one of the friends that got attacked?" Tsume asked.

"Yes. It seemed that I think he was mistaken as a wolf. The attacker just injured any dog they've seen." The human explained.

"Could've been that old man?"

Esmeralda glared at Tsume. "Tsume, don't say that! Oyaji is all worn out...there is no possible way that he can do this...plus his body was all frozen."

"Why are you defending him so much?" Hige asked.

"Because...he apologized to Blue in his sleep..."

"Well, if it isn't the old man then it must've been Jagara." Toboe said.

"Most likely." Tsume said.

Out of nowhere, an old man popped out and startled Esmeralda. "Ihk." The old man said.

"Ah, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Ihk, and this is the elder."

"Ihk, bring the guests along." The Elder said.

"Yes, sir."

"And heal this young one's wound." The Elder was pointing towards Esmeralda's ankle.

'How did he notice my wound?' Esmeralda asked herself in her head.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

They were lead to a small tent which is the Elder's tent and Ihk was putting some weird green medicine looking plant around Esmeralda's ankle.

"This should do to heal you. Does it feel better?" Ink asked.

"Yeah, a lot better." Esmeralda said.

"So tell us, what do you mean by 'we believe in wolves'?" Tsume asked.

"Well...we just believe in them. They were like ancestors to us." Ink said.

"Yes...a long time ago when humans were animals...there were also evil monsters." The Elder said.

"Evil monsters?" Esmeralda asked.

"The wolves killed the evil monsters and soon changed parts of their body into a human. It's an old story that has been passed down to the mon-tribe for ages." The Elder added.

"Wow..." Esmeralda said under her breath.

"And thus nobody should search for Paradise."

"Why?"

"If any of the wolves do find Paradise, then the world will vanish." The Elder said.

"So, we can't look for Paradise?" Toboe asked.

"No...which one of you started this search? Was it you?" The Elder was looking at Esmeralda.

"No, it wasn't me." She said.

"What will happen if the world ends?" Toboe asked.

"That is something that nobody knows. We are just following nature's destiny." The Elder said.

"Elder, shall I take them to a tent to rest for the night?" Ihk asked.

"Yes, please."

"Actually, we're about to head out." Tsume said.

"Please stay for the night. Her wounds haven't fully healed yet." Ihk said.

"No, my leg is better now..." Esmeralda said as she looked at her ankle.

"It's still sprained a little. So just stay for the night and you can leave tomorrow morning." Ihk said.

"Alright, we'll stay." Tsume said.

"Uh..."

* * *

Ihk led the wolves to their tent to sleep in for the night. Hige went to find food as usual and Toboe went to play with the other animals and kids. It was just Esmeralda and Tsume...alone as usual.

"Sorry, we couldn't leave as soon as possible." Esmeralda said.

"It's not your fault. Your ankle should feel better by tomorrow morning so we'll wait until you're okay." Tsume said.

Esmeralda blushed. "Okay...p-plus we need to look for Kiba."

"Yes, I know..."

There was a moment of silence for a few minutes until Tsume broke it. "Did that old geezer really apologized to Blue?"

"You mean Oyaji? Well yea...he did..."

"What is he sorry about?"

"I don't know...he said it in his sleep...and he was crying too."

"I could tell you feel really sorry for him."

"Yes, I do...if it wasn't for Darcia...then none of this would've happened… he and Blue wouldn't have lost their family...and my friends would still be alive..."

"I see..."

For some reason, she could have sworn that there was a bit of hurt on Tsume's tone of voice. 'Did I say something wrong that hurt him?' She asked herself.

"Hey, we're back." Toboe announced.

"And I brought some good food too." Hige said as he held out a bag.

"I'm not hungry...I'm going to sleep." Esmeralda said before she covered her mouth and yawned.

"Already?" Toboe asked.

"Yeah."

"Don't you want to play with the other animals?"

"Not really..."

"If she's tired then let her rest. She needs to heal that wound of hers." Tsume said.

Esmeralda looked away to hide her red face. "Well...we can leave tomorrow morning...as what Ihk said earlier..."

"Alright then, have a good rest." Hige said.

Esmeralda yawned and closed her eyes. She needed a long rest after what had happened for the past few days.

* * *

It was early in the morning and Esmeralda yawned with her sleepy eyes. She looked around the tent and noticed that she was the last person to wake up. She walked out the tent and found the others.

"Oh, Esmeralda, you're awake." Toboe said.

"You sure had a long nap." Hige added.

"Since you're finally up, we can leave now." Tsume said.

"Uh…sure." Esmeralda said.

"How's your leg?" Tsume asked.

"It's in perfect condition. I can run now."

"Good."

* * *

They found Ihk and walked up to him. "Ihk, we're gonna take off now." Esmeralda said.

"This early?" Ihk asked.

"Well, we're in search for a friend." Tsume said.

"What is beyond those mountains?" Hige asked when he looked at the mountains.

"Beyond those mountains is a place where nobody would go too. It's full of deserted bones...come with me."

They followed Ihk and he led them to the mountain. "This mountain is very dangerous...whoever goes there never came back...plus it is told that there was a field of grass that grew for over a thousand years..." Ihk explained.

"Could that place be Paradise?" Esmeralda asked.

"I'm not sure...this is as far I can take you...the rest is up to you guys." Ihk said.

"Well then, see ya." Tsume said.

"Thank you for healing my wound, Ihk, and it was a pleasure to meet you. Make sure to tell Elder I said bye too." Esmeralda said.

"Alright, see ya." Ihk said with a smile.

Everyone started to walk up the mountain until Esmeralda noticed that Toboe was not with them. She looked back and he was still standing next to Ihk. "T-Toboe?" Esmeralda called out.

"I'm...not going..." Toboe said.

"What?" Esmeralda's eyes widen.

"I...want to stay here!"

"What are you talking about Toboe..."


	18. Chapter 18

"I...want to stay here!" Toboe shouted.

"Stay here?" Tsume mumbled.

"Toboe...does that mean that you're leaving us?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yeah..."

"But...why?" She asked.

"Staying with Ihk and the others makes me feel like that I'm already at Paradise..."

"It...does?"

"Yeah..."

"Is that so...if that's what you want than its fine." Tsume said.

"Tsume!"

Tsume just continued to walk and Hige followed him. Esmeralda thought that he would be mad at Toboe for wanting to stay with Ihk and the others. She was sort of upset too but she knew if Toboe was happy with Ihk and the others...then...

"Sorry...Esmeralda..." Toboe said.

Esmeralda stood in front of Toboe and said, "Toboe, it's okay...if you are happy here...then you should stay. I rather see you happy then to be upset. So I guess...this is goodbye Toboe...take care." She patted Toboe's head and quickly caught up with Tsume and Hige.

"Tsume, are we really going to let Toboe leave us?" Esmeralda asked.

"He...likes human...he always wanted to be with humans..." He said.

"I realized that too." Hige added.

"I know that too...but..." Esmeralda said.

"Esmeralda...you would do the same thing if it was that old man."

"What?" She looked at Tsume.

"You're always the last one to wake up and we always hear you talk in your sleep." Hige said.

"I do?"

"Yeah. You always mention that old geezer's name. Sometimes you even cry in your sleep." Tsume added.

"I...I do?"

"Yeah. We know that you might do the same thing someday." Hige said.

"But…I don't want to leave you guys..." Esmeralda said with her head down.

Tsume placed a hand on top of her head and said, "It's okay Esmeralda. You will make that hard decision someday...Toboe already made his."

"Tsume...why do you act so different? You act just like Kiba..." Esmeralda said when she looked up at him.

"Yeah. Did he do something to you?" Hige asked.

"Ever since that guy mentioned Paradise, I can't give up on it. I want to see the wolves at the end of the world and the wolves being happy at Paradise. Plus there is no point in turning back now."

Esmeralda was amazed by his words. 'It seems that Tsume has changed a little...'

* * *

Soon they reached towards the end of the cliff and there was a huge plant looking thing at the middle of this never-ending desert.

"Is that where he is?" Tsume wondered.

"Maybe." Hige said.

Soon they sensed one of Jagara's people heading towards where the plant is. "Oh no...We better hurry! Kiba might be there!" Esmeralda shouted before they started to run as fast as they can. 'I just hope Kiba is alright, that is if he is there!' She thought to herself.

"Those bastards act as if they knew the wolves' location!" Tsume shouted.

"That means running and hiding is useless." Hige said.

* * *

They finally made it the plant and started to attack the group of men in their wolf form. It was only about four of them and Esmeralda bit one of the guys. Tsume and Hige took down another two and there was only one person left. The last person had really strong armor on with this strong weapon. They dodged all of the guys attacks Esmeralda ran to bit his head off but he got shot by an arrow before she could do anything. The arrow was familiar looking. It looks like Ihk's arrow.

"Saved you in the nick of time." They turned around and to see Ihk and Toboe.

"Ihk?" Esmeralda mumbled.

"Esmeralda!" Toboe shouted.

"Toboe..."

"Kiba!" Tsume shouted, catching everyone's attention.

Tsume, Hige, Toboe, and Esmeralda looked inside the huge plant and Kiba was in there in his wolf form, not moving a muscle and looked like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Kiba! He's not dead right?" Esmeralda asked.

"No, but don't go any closer to that plant." Ihk said while covering his mouth and nose with his arm.

"Why not?" Esmeralda asked.

"That plant is poisonous and it can paralyze you." Ihk explained.

"It can't be!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Don't act as if he's dead!" Tsume shouted.

"What should we do? We've got to get him out of there!"Hige shouted.

'I know Ihk said that the plant is dangerous… but I couldn't let Kiba stay in there and die!' Esmeralda shouted in her head.

She quickly ran inside the plant and dragged Kiba outside. "He is still alive! But he won't wake up!" Esmeralda announced.

"I'll take him back to elder to check on him." Ihk said.

* * *

Once again they are back at the village and this time Esmeralda and the others were waiting for Kiba to wake up. The Elder was doing this weird ritual to bring Kiba back from wherever his mind went too. After an hour or two, Kiba finally woke up.

"Kiba!" Toboe shouted with glee.

"Kiba...do you remember us?" Esmeralda asked; they were all hesitating. They didn't know if Kiba remembers them due to the plant.

"It's...been a long time...I haven't seen you guys..." Kiba mumbled. They all sighed in relief.

"Give us a break!" Hige shouted.

"Where have you been the whole time?" Toboe asked.

"A good place...it could've been...Paradise." Kiba said.

"But it wasn't, right?" Tsume asked.

"Yeah..." with that said, Kiba went back to sleep.

"He must be really tired after being stuck in that plant for like a few days. Guess we'll have to stay here again until Kiba feels better." Esmeralda said.

They all walked out of the tent to let Kiba rest and they went to take a rest too.

* * *

It was almost a day later and Kiba was still resting. Esmeralda and the others were sitting on a rock staring at the moon.

"Once Kiba recovered, we'll immediately head out." Tsume said.

"Right." Esmeralda said.

"So Toboe, what are you going to do?" Hige asked.

"It is easier to get by without fighting...this isn't an easy path for you." Tsume added.

"Of course...I know that..." Toboe mumbled.

"I hope you can stay with us Toboe...it'll be lonely if you don't stick with us." Esmeralda said.

"Hey what about my jokes?!" Hige exclaimed.

"Hige, none of your jokes are funny in the least." Esmeralda said.

"Hmph."

Toboe laughed and said, "Well maybe..."

Soon Kiba came out and walked towards them.

"Well, you're finally awake." Esmeralda said.

"Yeah…I overslept...I felt like I had a really good dream...it was a happy dream..." Kiba said.

"That place you saw was the Garden of Eternity." The Elder said.

"Garden of Eternity?" Kiba asked.

"You must've felt joy and happiness that you've never had before."

"Yeah."

"Usually that would be the end of the world for it...but you came back to this world..."

"There is a place we're heading too."

"But why Paradise?"

"So we can live on." Everybody was staring at Esmeralda like she said something wrong. "What?"

"I see...have a safe trip." With that said, the Elder went back inside.

Since Kiba was fully recovered...they can finally move on.

"What happened in there?" Tsume asked.

"Nothing...I met a nice woman in my dream." Kiba said. They had this look on their faces 0_0.

"Eh? You?" Hige asked.

"Met a woman?" Esmeralda finished the sentence.

"Tch no wonder." Tsume added.

"Eh?" Toboe looked confused.

"It felt as if I've lost something..."

"You mean Cheza?" Esmeralda asked.

"Not only her...but you guys." They stared at Kiba. "I thought you guys were dead."

"You've got to be kidding me!? Do you have any idea how long it took to find you!?" Hige exclaimed.

"Yeah, you moron!" Esmeralda shouted.

"Really? I'm sorry."

"Jeez..." They all just laughed. It was pretty funny that Kiba had no idea what is going on.

"Well then...let's go." Kiba said before Esmeralda looked towards Toboe.

She wondered if he was going staying with Ihk and the others or leaving with them. "Toboe?" She called.

"I...I won't whine anymore! Nor will I run away!" Toboe shouted.

"Wanna bet?" Hige teased.

"No." With that said, Tsume and Esmeralda lightly punched Toboe's head. They were really happy that he is staying with them. "You better not run away from me again." Esmeralda said.

"Right." Toboe said.

"Let's go. There's nothing else to do here." Tsume said.

* * *

Esmeralda went to tell Ihk that they were leaving and he led them out for a fresh start to run.

"So, how far is it to Paradise?" Esmeralda asked.

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll get there soon." Kiba said.

"This is as far as I can go. May the spirit be with you." Ihk said.

"Thank you...goodbye." Kiba said.

"See ya." Hige said.

"Later." Tsume said.

"Good bye." Toboe said before he said bye to the animal which made Esmeralda feel weird. But she shrugged her shoulders and walked up to Ihk.

"Hey, Ihk."

Ihk turned to her. "Yes?"

"There is a favor I have to ask." She walked towards Ihk's dog and she talked to it. "I'm looking for Oyaji. I have his scent on me; so if you do find him, please supply him with food and water...oh and also some medicine too...he's going to need it. When you do find him, howl for me so I can know." with that said, she caught up with the others. 'I hope they can find him on time...'

"What did you ask them?" Tsume asked.

"To help Oyaji. "

"That old man?"

"Yes..."

He sighed to himself. "I don't know what's with you and him...but...your hatred for humans is slowly going away."

"Oh...whatever..."

Soon, they phased into wolves and started running. After a few minutes, Esmeralda heard the howl from the dog. 'So that means they've found Oyaji and supplied him with goods...that is good. I hope Oyaji will be safe...I hope all of us would be safe...Paradise is almost near and when we do get there...everything will be over...'


	19. Chapter 19

Esmeralda and the others were still running towards Jagara's castle to get Cheza back and to find Blue. It's been a few hours of running and they still didn't find any sign of anything. "Look! The clouds are flashing!" Toboe shouted.

"Huh?" A huge booming sound filled the air.

"There it is again!"

"I don't think it's the clouds that are flashing." Tsume said.

Hige sniffed the air before he said, "Something smells like it's burned."

Everyone stopped running once they reached to a cliff and took a look at a small city nearby them. It looked like there were explosions over there. "It's a battle..." Kiba said.

"I say we go take a closer look. Maybe Cheza might be there." Esmeralda suggested.

"You're right."

* * *

They ran closer to the battle scene and it was a battle between the humans and Jagara's troops. They see humans dying from guns, bombs, and everything; just the sight of it was making Esmeralda sick.

"Why are the humans fighting like this?" Esmeralda asked.

"Probably for a noble." Hige said.

"Kiba, we should head in there and help..." Esmeralda said.

Kiba was just standing there for a long minute and finally responded, "Let's go."

They all headed into the fighting scene and helped the human's defeat Jagara's army . They split up to help around and Esmeralda encountered a man who looked like he was in trouble. She quickly ran to his aid and punched the armored trooper who tried to kill the guy. The armed guy tried to slash her with his sword but she quickly moved it away and then he tried to use his shield to make some kind of force towards her and she quickly dodged it.

Soon Tsume came out of nowhere and bit the guy to his death. She ran towards the man's aid and helped him up. Once she helped him up, he pointed his gun towards her. "Don't move!" He shouted.

She stared at him and he seemed to have a shock expression once he took a look at her. "What...are you guys?" He mumbled.

Soon Kiba, Hige, and Toboe showed up and the man lowered his gun. "Why did you save us?" He asked.

"Saving you wasn't our intention...it was hers." Kiba pointed towards Esmeralda and she felt kind of embarrassed.

"I only wanted to help...because I know you would be in trouble" Esmeralda said with her head turned to the side.

Hige sniffed on the man in front of them. "He smells like the guy who was chasing us in the city when we were looking for Cheza." Hige said, which caught Kiba's attention.

"What?! You know Cheza!?"

"I have no clue what you are talking about." The man said.

"She's the girl who was born from a flower." Toboe said.

"Don't tell me...you guys...from before..." The man mumbled.

"Ah...I knew it." Hige exclaimed.

"The flower maiden was with you."

"She was taken away by Jagara's troops." Esmeralda said, looking down.

"So that's why...that's why they attacked us...they were after her."

"Um...who's 'they'?" Esmeralda wondered.

"Oakum, Darcia, and Jagara." Anger boiled in Esmeralda's mind when she heard Darcia's name but she quickly calmed down when Tsume patted her shoulder. "Those nobles would do anything to obtain that girl." The man said.

"Old man, we could care less about them, all we care about is if you've seen her." Hige said.

"I haven't seen her. But if you are heading towards her, then head past those drifting ice to Jagara's castle." The man said, pointing at a direction.

"Jagara's castle is just past that...alright then let's go! Thanks for the information!" Esmeralda said before they started to run until the man called up back.

"Wait! Are you really planning to fight Jagara's men by yourselves?"

"Yes we are. We protect those who are needed." Kiba said before they sped up and quickly headed towards the drifting ice area.

* * *

A couple minutes of running and they could see that the humans are at it again. It is useless to keep stopping and help them one on one so they just kept running and running and then they finally reached to the ice area. It was a glacier full of ice and water.

"Is this really the ocean?" Toboe asked.

"Just floating ice." Esmeralda said.

"Floating ice?"

"It's an ocean full of ice." Tsume added.

"We have to cross through here?" Esmeralda asked.

"Yes...it's the only way towards Jagara's castle." Kiba said.

"You'll have to be careful. It'll be slippery and the water is really cold. Let's go!" Tsume said before they jumped off the mini cliff and landed on the floating ices and they just kept jumping across the ices but most of the time they have to stop because Toboe kept either slipping or falling into the water.

"Come on, Toboe!" Hige shouted.

"I got it! Let's go and get outta here! It's cold here!" Toboe shouted.

"What's with him?"

"Leave him alone, he's just a kid." Esmeralda said.

She and the others kept jumping from ice to ice and they jumped through a huge gap to the other side of the ice land but Toboe stopped and didn't make the jump.

"Hey! Why did you stop?! Are you scared?" Hige teased.

"I was about to jump!" Toboe ran back a little and then he made the jump but he slipped and fell down face first. "Ouch..." Toboe groaned.

"Are you alright, Toboe?" Esmeralda asked.

"Ah yeah I'm alright..." Toboe said.

"Well then hurry up. I want to get out of this hellish place." Tsume said.

"We'll stop running after we reach to a nearby city with food." Kiba said.

* * *

They all kept running but they were still stopping almost every five minutes because of Toboe's lack of running. They ended up at a spot full of bones, walrus bones.

"All bones..." Esmeralda mumbled.

"I have a bad feeling about this place." Tsume said.

"It's the only way. We'll have to pass through here." Kiba said.

Hige sighed before he said, "I knew you were going to say that."

Everyone slowly walked across the bone graveyard and Esmeralda noticed that Toboe was bleeding on his arm. "Toboe...what happened to your arm?" She asked.

"Oh...it's nothing...just a scratch from earlier..." Toboe said.

"Are you sure?" Hige said.

"Yes I'm sure! Let's get moving!" Toboe started to run and everyone was just standing there, wondering why Toboe is so energetic today.

Esmeralda ignored the thought and kept moving but once again was stopped by Toboe's running. They were about 100 feet ahead of Toboe as he is still running until he finally fell down to the ground.

"Hey Toboe! Give up already!?" Hige shouted.

"No! I'm fine..."

As soon as Toboe got back up, the ground started to shake and a HUGE walrus popped out through the ice and broke the float of ice Toboe was on. Toboe fell into the ice cold water and Esmeralda quickly ran to get him.

"Toboe! Grab my hand!" She quickly grabbed Toboe and they started to run away but the walrus came back and tried to attack up but was stopped by the rest of the guys biting it in their wolf forms.

The walrus got angry and pushed everyone out of the way. Tsume was still biting the walrus but it grabbed Tsume and tossed him to a nearby ice rock.

"Tsume! Toboe, stay here!" Esmeralda shouted as she ran towards them in her wolf form.

Soon the walrus was heading towards Tsume and Esmeralda quickly started to run to his aid and as soon as it was about to eat Tsume, she jumped up and landed on his head. The walrus was trying to get her off and she bit its forehead. Now the walrus was getting really mad and tossed its head on the solid rock in which it squeezed her into the rock. She landed on the ground and she couldn't move for a minute and she tried to get away but the walrus was about to attack her.

Instead Kiba ran in front of her to stop the walrus and the walrus's fang went into Kiba's leg. Esmeralda quickly recovered and ran towards the walrus to bite it again. Hige and Tsume did the same and she tried to look for Toboe and he was just sitting there with a distraught look on his face.

"Toboe! Don't just sit there, help us!" Her words couldn't reach Toboe but after a few seconds, he finally got up and started to attack the walrus in his wolf form. He bit its eyes and the walrus quickly fell into the water with everybody else in it.

Esmeralda didn't know how to swim so she was having trouble trying to float on the water. "Help...Tsume..." Esmeralda was trying to cough the water out of her lungs. "...help…"

"Esmeralda! I got you! Hold on!" She grabbed Tsume and held onto him until they were both on surface.

"Are you alright?" Hige asked as Esmeralda was trying to cough out the rest of the water from her lungs.

"Yeah...where's Toboe?"

"He disappeared with it." Kiba said before they saw the walrus popping in and out of the water with Toboe still biting its eye.

* * *

After a few minutes of fighting, the walrus disappears and it grew silent. 'Has Toboe gone underwater?' Esmeralda asked herself.

"Damnit! He's gone under!" Tsume shouted.

"This is bad..." Hige mumbled.

"Toboe! Where are you?!" Esmeralda shouted.

Behind them, the walrus pops up with injuries all around it and Toboe was standing there growling at it. The walrus lost consciousness and fell down. Everyone quickly ran towards Toboe's side to see if he's alright.

"Toboe! Are you alright?" Hige asked.

"Toboe...you don't seem...fine..." Esmeralda added.

"I don't know...I didn't know what to do. Something...something...just came out of me..."

To Esmeralda, it seems that something made Toboe snap and end up like this. It was hard to see Toboe like that but at least he's somewhat back to normal. Hige went to check up on the walrus and the walrus was dead.

Everyone's stomachs were growling and decided to let Toboe take the first bite; it was his kill so he gets most of the share and then everyone came in and ate the walrus together.

* * *

They ate the whole walrus till its bones and started to run towards Jagara's castle. 'It was scary to see that side of Toboe and I'm hoping to never see that side of him again.' Esmeralda said in her head.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tsume asked.

She looked up at him and said, "Yeah, I am. Although my back kind of hurts..."

"That's because you got slammed to those rocks earlier."

"So did you."

"At least you're not injured that much"

Esmeralda looked down. "Yeah...I just hope we can find Cheza."

Tsume placed a hand on top of her head. "We will...and we will go to Paradise together."

She smiled at him. "Yeah..."

"Hey slowpokes! Come one!" Hige shouted.

"Alright! Alright! Keep your pants on!" With that said from Esmeralda, she and Tsume ran faster to catch up with the others towards Jagara's castle.


	20. Chapter 20

Hige lead the pack to Jagara's castle but only on the outside part of it. They couldn't get inside because of some kind of ID thing. Even though Hige lead them inside, it is kind of suspicious that he knows his way around here...as if he was here before or something else...

"It's so warm here..." Toboe pointed out.

"I told you so." Hige said with a smug on his face.

"How did you know?" Kiba asked.

"Hmm...I don't know myself. Let's just say...instincts."

"Instincts he says..." Tsume mumbled.

"If it was instincts, then you and I would've smelled our way towards here a long time ago." Esmeralda said with a shrug on her shoulders.

"Got that right…" Tsume said.

Esmeralda turned her attention to Kiba and asked, "So Kiba-...what are we going to do? Cheza is probably inside the castle."

"I know...lets split up. Toboe and I will look for information while the rest of you look for a way inside." Hige suggested.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at him. "When you mean information...you mean food huh?"

"Hehehe...don't worry. I'll save some for you. See ya."

With that said, Toboe and Hige left while Kiba, Esmeralda, and Tsume went towards the opposite way to look for a way inside.

* * *

As they were running, Tsume started talking about his suspicion of Hige. "There is something suspicious about him. Seems like he knows his way around the place and then calls it 'instincts'. I don't buy that."

"I agree...I have a bit of a greater smell than Hige and you know that. I don't know how Hige can smell our way here but, I have a weird feeling that he has been here before."

"So you're suspicious of him too?"

"Not really...it's just...I don't really get him that much."

They reached towards the front of the castle but it was blocked by Jagara's guards and tanks.

"Hm...what do you want to do? Going straight towards them is suicide." Tsume pointed out.

"Of course it's suicide." Esmeralda said.

"So then, let's go through the back door." Kiba suggested.

"Tch...You read my mind."

They headed back and went to a really small town just outside of the castle to see if they could get information about the castle.

"I wonder where Hige and Toboe went?" Esmeralda asked.

"Who knows." Tsume said.

"THEIVES!"

Esmeralda heard someone screaming out 'thieves' and out came two young boys looking around her age running past them with a smile on their faces. "Huh...even this little town has people like us, Tsume. " She said.

"Yeah looks like it..." Tsume had a smile on his face and it made Esmeralda blushed but she quickly looked away. "But, they are the kind of people that also knows the route to the back of the castle." Tsume said.

That set them an idea to look for those two boys to ask them questions.

* * *

They finally found then and stood right in front of them. The boys were shocked to see them. It seems that one of those boys isn't the talkative one.

"Who the hell are you guys?" One of the boys asked.

"I just want to ask you something." Tsume said.

"Leave us alone. We don't have that much food to share!"

"I just want to ask you something."

"Not interested. Let's go home and rest." The boys were about to turn around and run but Kiba got to them and stood right there. Therefore, they are surrounded.

"Like he said, he just wants to ask you something." Esmeralda said.

"Wow...What a babe. The way your hair is covering your eye gives you a mysterious and sexy look. You've got a very hot figure to go with it. How about coming home with me and we'll get married."

Esmeralda shivered from disgust. "...Ew..."

"Come on. Give me a chance." The boy was about to touch her but Tsume grabbed his arm and threw him towards the wall.

"Don't touch her!"

"Tch...If it's a fight you want then I'll gladly accept." The boy tried to attack Tsume but failed and once again was thrown to the wall

"Useless..." Tsume mumbled.

"Call me useless huh..."

Esmeralda saw the boy took out a pocketknife and was about to stab Tsume but he was stopped by Kiba. "Knives are dirty play..." Esmeralda said.

"Wolves..." She stared at the quiet kid and gave him a look of confusion.

"Tch...you guys are pretty strong. Where are you from?"

"From different places." Tsume said.

"Well, we have been wondering around by ourselves too. Rumor has it that this is the best and biggest city."

"I see..." Esmeralda said.

"Anyways, what do you want to know?"

"How can we get to the castle without being seen?" Kiba asked.

"Eh? You mean Jagara's castle?"

"Yes. Know how to get in?" Esmeralda asked.

"Oh...Impossible, impossible."

"How is it impossible?"

"Getting into that place is impossible...even for people like you. Besides...what is your business inside the castle?"

"We're going to rescue a girl." Tsume said.

"From Jagara? Again...impossible."

"We're serious." Kiba said.

"Are you going to help or not?" Esmeralda asked.

"Well...we don't want to get involved with her. I heard that she is a witch and she cast spells on people."

"It doesn't matter who the opponent is. We went this far and we are going to save Cheza." Kiba said.

"Jeez...well we're not going to be responsible if anything happens to you guys, we'll just show you the way."

"Fine by us." Esmeralda said with a smirk.

"We can take care of the rest."

"Alright then. We'll show you the way. Follow us." The two boys got up and lead them the way towards Jagara's castle.

* * *

They lead the wolves to an alleyway full of huge wire cables that leads to Jagara's castle.

"Here it is. These cables should lead you guys to the base of the castle. To tell you the truth, no one has ever gotten passed here before." The boy said.

"I see." Tsume said.

"I've heard that these things are the ones that transport the energy to the city."

"Hey you feel that?"

"Yeah..." Kiba said.

"The opposite feeling of the moonlight." Esmeralda said.

"It feels like our energy is getting sucked out." Tsume added.

"Seems like it will feel worse in there."Kiba said.

"We'll just manage through it." Esmeralda said.

"Um...are you guys really going there?" The boy asked.

"Yeah." Kiba said.

"Thanks for the help." Tsume said.

"Hope you guys won't get into too much trouble. See ya." Esmeralda said before she and the boys jumped down and ran through the cable and headed towards Jagara's castle.

'Cheza is right there inside the castle and we must hurry and rescue her so that we can reach to Paradise.' She said in her head until she remembered something. "Hey guys. What about Hige and Toboe?"

"They'll know where we are soon." Tsume said.

"They might meet up with us there." Kiba added. "Oh...okay..."


	21. Chapter 21

Inside of Jagara's castle was very huge. It also seems to be a bit empty...too empty. 'Something here just doesn't seem right.' Esmeralda thought.

"Everywhere we go in this stupid castle, I feel even more uneasy." Tsume said.

"It's not too late to go home." Kiba teased.

"Tch…you think this is going to scare me?"

Kiba smirked. "Guess not."

"I can feel every stick of hair standing up. Makes me feel excited even more. What about you, Esmeralda?" Tsume asked.

"Um...I kinda feel..."

"Scared?" Kiba asked.

Esmeralda moved her head side to side. "No...Not scared...just a bit...indifferent..."

Tsume turned his attention to her. "How so?"

"Um...I don't know how to explain it."

"Hm..." Tsume sniffed the air for something. "Hey, I smell something..."

Before they could say anything, the walls started to come down which made a whole new passage and the new walls separated each of them. Esmeralda banged on the wall that was right in front of her and blocking her away from Tsume and Kiba.

"Tsume! Kiba! What is going on?!" Esmeralda shouted as she kept banging on the wall but it was no use. "The only way I can meet with them is by taking this new path." Esmeralda said to herself before she started to run from her left side.

From that moment, she could feel the flower's scent towards her direction. 'Cheza is bound to be here somewhere...but where?'

* * *

After running for a while around the castle, Esmeralda didn't know where she ended up at. The only thing she does know is that she was following Cheza's flower scent and the scent led her to a room right in front of her. Slowly, she opened the door and in front of the door were Jagara's troops.

"Has the scent tricked me to come to this room?" She asked herself before shrugging her shoulders and said. "Well whatever the case, I need to get away from them."

Jagara's troops start to use their weapons to capture her, but Esmeralda quickly ran away. Every corner she turned to, they're there.

'This is not good. Jagara has trapped me.' She thought.

She quickly turned back and found a door that lead to an empty room so she went in. She locked the door behind her and started to slowly walk across the room to the other side of the door. It was then she realized that the room had a huge glass container that is like a huge museum. She looked through the glass and gasped at the sight.

Inside each one had a stuffed dead wolf. Esmeralda's body started to shake in fear before she realized that each of the dead wolves had a collar with the same looking symbols. It almost looked like the same kind of collar Hige had.

"This is starting to get really weird..." She mumbled before she heard a small noise coming from the other end of the room and positioned herself to attack. After a few seconds, she saw a familiar body within the dark shadows and it was Tsume. She relaxed her body in relief.

"Tsume!" She called.

Tsume turned to the sound of her voice. "Esmeralda? There you are."

She quickly ran to him and at first she was going to hug him but then she backed away. She didn't want to make things awkward. "What is this room? It's giving me the creeps."

"I don't know myself. Let's hurry, we need to find Kiba." Tsume grabbed her hand and was heading towards the door she just went through, but Esmeralda stopped him.

"We can't go through there." She said.

Tsume looked back at her and asked, "Why not?"

"Jagara's troops are out there. They were chasing me."

"Are you hurt?"

"No...Let's go through that door."

She quickly opened the door but her foot rests short for Jagara's troops were right in front of them; they were trapped. Soon Jagara's troops surrounded them and asked for their surrender. Before anyone of them could respond, a huge cage landed right on top of Esmeralda and Tsume which trapped them even more. All they could do was just to put their hands up and Jagara's troops led them to where they kept their 'prisoners'.

* * *

Tsume and Esmeralda were separated in different cells. As Tsume was banging around to break free, Esmeralda just sat there, thinking about why she couldn't sense them coming...she let her guard down because she was with Tsume. She feels that she was a failure as a wolf. She was lost in thought that she didn't realize Tsume was calling her name. "Esmeralda! Listen!"

She looked up and said, "Sorry. I was...thinking..."

"Esmeralda, listen, we need to get out of here!" Tsume couldn't finish his sentence because the soldiers came in with someone else and tossed him in the cell. She noticed that it was Toboe.

"Toboe!" Esmeralda called out in shock.

"Toboe! Where's Hige?!" Tsume exclaimed.

"I don't know. We got separated...where's Kiba?" Toboe asked.

"We lost him too. He should be somewhere in the castle..." Esmeralda said.

Everyone just sat there in their cells, thinking of a way to get out and how to save Cheza. Sooner or later, Esmeralda heard a familiar voice just across from her. "Is that you...Esmeralda?"

She looked up to see Hubb. "H-Hubb...what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I was captured here with Cheza."

Esmeralda stood up in shock. "What?! Where is she?"

"I don't know. They knock me out when they took her away..."

"But...where's Cher?"

"I don't know. I think she is with this girl...all blue..."

"She must be with Blue..." Esmeralda mumbled before she shouted, "Tsume! Toboe! We need to get out of here now!" With that said, they all tried to break the cell bars but they can't seem to break through.

Soon Hubb asked them a question. "You guys...are you wolves?"

Esmeralda, Tsume, and Toboe each gave in no response. Giving him no response gave him the answer that they are wolves. Oyaji just sat there with nothing to say but have a slight of shock on his face.

Suddenly, they heard a painful song. "You guys hear that...it's Cheza's singing." Toboe said.

"I hear it too." Tsume said.

"She's crying…" Esmeralda mumbled.

By now, everyone had stopped trying to break free and just sat at their cells.

"Esmeralda...what do you want to do once we find paradise?" Tsume asked.

"I don't know…I guess I'll find a mate after I get comfortable in paradise. Then again, I'll probably never find one; I mean I'm not that important or special."

"Yes you are! You're important to us...especially me." She was blushing to what Tsume was saying.

If only she could see what his face expression was to saying those words.

Soon the lights started to go out and Esmeralda saw that Hubb has an expression of 'I have an idea' look.

"Hey guys, it seems that our locks are using electric to keep us in. So with the lights going out, you can knock through the bars!" The wolves gave it a try as the lights were going out. With a success, they broke free and finally got out of the cells.

* * *

Hige showed up right next to Esmeralda and he has a cool look right on his face. Esmeralda noticed that there was something suspicious about him.

"Hige! It's good to see you!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Hey guys...lets hurry up and get out of here." Hige said.

"And where are you going to take us?" Tsume asked.

"I don't know."

"Tch...you were the one who led us to this trap in the damn castle. Esmeralda and I spotted stuffed wolves...wolves that look like your kind...and where's your collar?"

"My collar was just a number…"

"And so you casually walked your way here as if nothing happened? Did you know that your kind has sold themselves to Jagara and then gets killed!?" Tsume shouted.

"Well then, why don't you kill me then!?"

Esmeralda got between them and shouted, "Stop fighting!"

"Hige what is wrong with you?" Toboe asked.

"What is wrong with me? Everything! I need to stop this once and for all!"

Hige started running and Toboe and Tsume went to chase after him. Esmeralda was about to run after them but she realized Hubb was still locked in his cell. So she quickly knocked them down and pulled him out of there.

"Thanks..." He said.

"You're welcome. Go and find Cher." She quickly ran and caught up with the others.

* * *

Hige has led them to a huge room in which they assume is the main room and from there, they see Jagara and Darcia fighting; Esmeralda noticed that Jagara looked just like that beautiful woman see found at Darcia's castle.

Seeing the both of them gives Esmeralda the sense of hatred but then she noticed Cheza with Cher. The fight scene with Darcia and Jagara ended with Darcia on the ground unconscious. Suddenly, Hige ran towards her and tires to kill Jagara but she stabbed a sword through his shoulder and Hige is on the ground covered in a pool of blood. They quickly ran to his aid and pulled the sword out of his wound.

"Hige! Are you okay?!"Toboe asked.

"I need...to stop...her..." Hige breathed out.

Jagara stood up and said to them, "You foolish wolves..."

Esmeralda got so mad at Jagara tried to go after her but Kiba showed up out of the blue and pushed Esmeralda aside to fight her instead. Knowing that Kiba is here, and not dead she went back to Hige's side. Tsume went to where Cheza is and grabbed her from Cher and ran back to them. The fight continued on until Esmeralda saw that Darcia has stabbed her own sword through Jagara's heart. From there, Jagara is pronounced dead.

Esmeralda couldn't tell whether Darcia is a wolf or a human. She didn't know what he is...but he did kill Jagara.

"What are you..." Kiba asked in anger.

"I'm neither a human nor a wolf. I'm what I was chosen for." Darcia started to walk away.

Esmeralda had come to her senses that she wanted to kill Darcia, but she gave him a chance to walk away.

He quickly turned to her direction and stared at her. "Young wolf...I will see you the next time I see you...that is if you are still alive." After he said that, Darcia disappeared and everyone was standing in a group.

"We're all together...again..." Esmeralda said.

"We finally got Cheza back." Toboe said.

"Let's get out of here..."

Soon Jagara's castle started to shake up but not only did the castle shake up, the whole city is having an earthquake.

"Hurry! I promise Blue that I would meet up with her!" Hige shouted before they quickly headed out of the castle.

With Jagara gone and dead, there is still Paradise to reach to and there is also Darcia whom Esmeralda wants to...defeat or kill. 'I hope we can reach to Paradise in time.' Esmeralda thought.


	22. Chapter 22

"I'm sure she was here. She promised me that she would stay here and wait..." Hige said.

"Hige, I'm sure Blue is just running away because this whole city is tearing apart. I'm sure that she didn't leave you behind." Toboe said.

"Hey, probably she didn't trust you at all and just left." Tsume joked.

Esmeralda punched him on his chest, being careful with Cheza in his arms, and said, "Hey, there is no way that Blue will do that..."

Hige looked down and said, "Whatever...let's just go."

They left the city and headed out to the middle of nowhere. A couple minutes passed and the silence was broken when Hige smelled something. "I know that smell..." Hige walked a bit faster and landed on the sand full of blood. "This smell stinks...its human blood!"

Esmeralda followed behind Hige to smell the blood. 'This blood smells a bit familiar...whose blood is it?' She thought.

"Esmeralda, this blood belongs to the old man." Toboe stated.

Her eyes widen."Oyaji!?"

Tsume scoffed. "Figures. Maybe that girl must've ran back to her master. She is useless anyways."

Hige glared at him and shouted, "What gives you the right to say that!?"

"That girl is only half wolf. There is no way she can come to Paradise like that."

"Stop it." Kiba said.

"How are we gonna get to Paradise with all of these damn distractions?!" Esmeralda noticed that Tsume seems to be having a temper problem ever since they've reached to Jagara's castle and she didn't understand why.

They continued to walk and now...Oyaji's blood stench is stuck on Esmeralda's nose.

* * *

Their walk was silent again but then Kiba mentioned that Jagara and the other nobles were trying to open up their Paradise. As far as they know, there are no way humans can open Paradise. Paradise is only for wolves.

Right now, Esmeralda had many questions on her mind. Questions such as 'is our journey to end soon?', 'where is Oyaji?', 'what happened to everybody else?'.

"Esmeralda, are you okay?" Toboe asked.

Esmeralda snapped out of her trance and turned to Toboe. "Huh...oh, sorry. I was just thinking..."

"Hey guys, I hear something. Sounds like..." Hige said before everyone else looked at the direction he was looking at.

From afar, they could see Blue running towards them just 20 feet away. With that, Hige ran towards her and they tackled each other with happiness. Esmeralda noticed that there was a car behind Blue and out from the car was Hubb and Cher. She was surprised to see them but at the same time she was happy to see that they are safe.

"How did you manage to...?" Esmeralda wondered.

"We were wondering around and found this van and then we bumped into them." Hubb answered.

Esmeralda raised an eyebrow. "Them? Don't you mean you just bumped into Blue?"

" is inside the van. He's not in a good state right now." Cher said.

"What!?" Esmeralda quickly ran to the back of the car and saw Oyaji laying there; he looked very pale but still breathing, his leg is bleeding, and his sides are bruised. She was really happy to see Oyaji-san again and the fact that he is still alive.

"If you guys want, we'll take you guys to Paradise." Hubb said.

Esmeralda turned towards Hubb with her eyes widen. "What? But what about..."

Cher stepped in and said, "This planet is a total wreck."

"I find no need to loving this planet anymore. Right now, the only important thing is to take you guys to where Paradise is. So hop on." Hubb said.

"We'll run." Kiba announced.

Tsume turned to Esmeralda and said, "Esmeralda, you stay in the car."

"What...but..."

"This is too much for you and I want you to take a rest."

"Hige and Cheza goes in the car too." Kiba added.

Esmeralda sighed to herself; she knew that they were both right. "Alright."

Hige, Blue, and Esmeralda stayed in the back of the car with Oyaji-san while Cher, Cheza and Hubb sat in front of the car. The car started to move and the others started to run. Hige already fell asleep on Blue's lap so it was just Esmeralda and Blue awake.

"You know, Esmeralda, when I found Oyaji...he mentioned your name. He mentioned that you reminded him of Ruth." Blue said.

At first, Esmeralda was quite shocked to hear that but then she responded, "I see. Blue, can you tell me why he hates wolves so much?"

"It was because of Jagara and her army. She did all this and caused this misery to me. All of this would've never happened if she or Darica didn't show up at all."

"That is quite true...but if this would've never happened, I wouldn't be here, plus we would've never met and the other wolves. We would've never met them." Esmeralda said.

Thinking back on her words, if Esmeralda had never met Darcia...then she would've never met Tsume and losing him would be the last option on her mind.

* * *

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the car went out of control and they were spinning around. Without knowing, the car flipped a couple of turns and then it finally stopped. Esmeralda's head hit the walls of the car a couple of times but it didn't hurt as much. They quickly got out of the car and Esmeralda was carrying Oyaji with her. She noticed that the car landed just on the edge of a cliff that could fall off any minute. She quickly placed Oyaji next to Toboe and ran to help Hubb and Cher. Hubb got out of the car safely and then Cher gave Cheza to Hubb.

Esmeralda's hands were free so she reached her hand out towards Cher. "Cher, grab onto my hand."

Cher nodded. "Okay."

Cher was about to grab onto her hand, but then the icy cliff cracked and the car fell off the cliff. Cher was still in the car and she was inches from Esmeralda's hand; so Esmeralda tried to quickly grab her hand before it's too late…

"Cher!" Esmeralda missed Cher's hand and she fell off the cliff with the car and fell almost 2 miles down the cliff.

Hubb saw the scene in horror and couldn't say a word to what just happened. Questions were going through his head like 'did Cher just fell to her death?', 'Is there a chance that she is still alive?'.

"CHER! We must go down there and save her!" Hubb exclaimed before they quickly went down the cliff and looked for Cher's body.

The car was still somewhat in good shape and from there; they found Cher's body just lying there next to a pond. Hubb walked towards her body and gently picked her up in his arms.

"Cher, Cher, please wake up. Cher, don't die on me."

Cher's body slowly moved and she reached her hand towards his face. "Hubb, it's okay; I'm here. I'm just...happy...to see you..." Cher said with what's left of strength she has.

"Cher! Don't die on me! No!"

Esmeralda's eyes were full of tears. 'It's my fault that she died! If I would've caught her hand in time then...then she wouldn't have died! It's all my fault!' She shouted in her head as tears kept streaming down her face as Cher closed her eyes for the last time and her lifeless body just sat there with Hubb.

"Cher...I love you..." After Hubb had his cries, he took Cher's body and placed her into the pond where her body will forever lay at the bottom of the waters.

Esmeralda continued to stand there and cry still thinking that all of this was her fault; just like when she led her friends to their death a long time ago. Tsume stood by her and said, "Esmeralda, it's not your fault. It was destiny that chose for her time of death." Tsume was holding her hand and without knowing, she just squeezed her hand onto his as she wiped the tears out of her face.

She glanced at Hubb and he was moving towards the car. He stopped his tracks and looked at them.

"We're still going to Paradise...no matter what. Let's go." Hubb was very emotionless at the time. He was still sad after Cher's death.

Esmeralda couldn't blame him. She still couldn't forgive herself for seeing Cher fall of the cliff like that.

With that, Hige, Blue, Cheza, and Esmeralda, along with carrying Oyaji, went back into the car and surprisingly, the car still works. As they were driving off and the guys running, Esmeralda looked back through the window, taking a look at the cliff where they last saw Cher.

'I hope she is there in her heaven while we are still searching for ours...' She thought to herself as one last tear trail down from her right eye.


	23. Chapter 23

'We are close to reaching Paradise. I don't know how, but I just think we are. We NEED to get to Paradise now to find our happiness and with Cher gone… I'm afraid to know who is next to leave us.' Esmeralda thought to herself.

"Esmeralda..." Blue called.

Esmeralda snapped out of her train of thought and looked up towards Blue. "Yes?"

"I have something to say...about Ruth and the City of Curious."

Esmeralda knew she was serious and paid attention to her. "What about it?"

"I found out that it wasn't the wolves that killed them and the city. It was Jagara's doing...she destroyed everything."

Esmeralda's eyes widen at the information. "What? So Jagara killed Ruth and your family?"

Blue looked down with sadness in her eyes. "Yes...Oyaji mistaken and thought that it was wolves that did it because we saw a couple of wolves eating their corpse."

Oyaji seemed to have a fever after his accident and he was having a couple of bad dreams. All the girls could do was just sit there and find out the truth about what really happened to Blue's family back at home.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes and looked down when a thought came across her. "I bet you one of those wolves you saw was Darcia."

"Probably..."

After a few seconds, Oayji wasn't feeling well and is having some trouble breathing; his condition looked really bad. Hige quickly called Hubb to stop driving to take a look at Oyaji.

Hubb checked on Oyaji and said, "He seems to be in shock from dehydration! We don't have any medical supplies to help him!"

Esmeralda gasped at the information and crawled towards Oyaji. "Oyaji!"

Oyaji eyes rolled back and Hubb was using his hands to pump Oyaji chest. Tsume and the others ran towards the back and saw what was going on.

Tsume turned towards Esmeralda and asked, "Esmeralda, what's going on?"

Esmeralda moved her head side to side before she replied, "I don't know! This just happened to Oyaji out of nowhere!"

"I'm trying to...make him breathe again!"

Suddenly, Cheza came inside and kneeled by Oyaji's head before she started breathing into his mouth as Hubb continues to pump on Oyaji's chest.

* * *

After a couple of minutes, Oyaji started coughing and he calmed down from his little attack which relieved everyone. Everyone just sat around the car taking a little break.

"I'm happy Oyaji is fine." Blue said in relief.

Esmeralda nodded her head in agreement and said, "Yeah. Hopefully, he'll wake up soon."

Tsume turned his head back and said, "Please. He'll just collapse again after seeing us wolves travelling with him. Besides...he won't be pleased travelling with us to Paradise."

Esmeralda turned towards Tsume and said, "That's not true Tsume. When he wakes up...I'm sure that he'll come with us."

Blue continued to stare at Oyaji and added, "He will. He protected me when I found him...even though he knows that I'm also a wolf."

Tsume smirked and said, "So what? Our lives were in danger because of his stupid misunderstanding?"

"It can be a misunderstanding, but that misunderstanding can be the reason to why he is still alive today." Hige said.

Esmeralda turned her attention towards Hige. "Hige..."

Everyone was quite for a moment before Hubb said, "I think we should get going. We want to reach Paradise right?"

Kiba nodded and said, "Right. Let's go."

Tsume looked at Toboe and said, "Toboe, you stay in the car."

"Huh? Why?" Toboe asked.

"You need to take a rest." Tsume stated.

"Oh...okay.."

Everyone hopped back into the car as Kiba and Tsume started to run ahead. Oyaji was sleeping again and his breathing was at normal rate which was good. Everyone was having a little talk about Paradise until the car had fully stopped.

Hubb sighed before he said, "Sorry guys...but it's time to walk." The car had ran out of gas so everyone got out of the car and started walking their way to Paradise.

* * *

In a couple of minutes, they all took a break again and just sit around, had some sleep. Blue and Esmeralda couldn't sleep since they were too worried about Oyaji's condition.

Hubb slightly turned his head and said, "Ladies, you don't have to worry. He's just sleeping."

Blue looked down and said, "But...I'm worried. What he'll think after seeing us with him."

Esmeralda placed a hand on Blue's shoulder and said, "I don't want you to lose Oyaji. So I'll take care of him as much as possible." Blue smiled at her words.

Suddenly, Oyaji woke up and started coughing. Blue and Esmeralda kneeled by him and exclaimed, "Oyaji!"

Oyaji coughed out, "Where...am I..."

"Oyaji!" Blue called out.

"Is that...you, Blue...?" He asked.

"Yes it's me!"

"I...can't see anything...the world is all blurry..."

"He's awake!" Toboe exclaimed.

"Who was that...a child?" Oyaji wondered.

"You're awake." Hubb said.

"It's...that softy's voice..."

Esmeralda smiled at Oyaji and said, "Oyaji...thank goodness."

"That voice...it sounds familiar...Ruth?"

"No. I'm not Ruth...its Esmeralda."

"Esmeralda...oh...I remember you...who else is there? I can sense other people around me."

"Yes, there are others here." Kiba said.

"Who are you?" Oyaji asked.

"Oyaji...they're..." Blue tried to think of a way to tell him about her friends.

"We're wolves." Kiba bluntly said.

Oyaji gasped before he chuckled and said, "You've got to be joking."

"They're not. The wolves are with us and the flower girl too." Hubb said.

"Oyaji, we're going to travel to Paradise together." Blue said.

"Paradise? What a sick joke." Oyaji started getting up.

"Oyaji! Don't get up, you're still weak!" Esmeralda tried to help him lie back down, but he pushed her hands away.

Oyaji started to slowly walk away and said, "I don't need your help; going to Paradise is pathetic. I'd rather die than go there."

"Why would you say that?! Blue and Esmeralda took care of you and they were worry about you!" Toboe exclaimed.

Esmeralda quickly ran towards Oyaji and blocked his way. "Oyaji, stop moving. You're still not in good condition..."

Esmeralda got interrupted by Oyaji shouting, "I don't want to travel with you wolves!" Oyaji just turned around and just stared at everyone and then he took a good look at Blue. "Blue...you're not my dog anymore." His words just broke Blue's heart as Oyaji just pushed Esmeralda aside and continued to walk into the sandy weather.

Esmeralda turned around and stared at Oyaji. 'How could just say that to her?' She thought as a tear came out of her eye.

"I'll go after him!" Toboe said before he followed after Oyaji but Esmeralda didn't really care to stop him. All she was thinking about now was the fact that Oyaji's words broke Blue's heart and spirit.

"Perhaps… I'm not a wolf anymore." Esmeralda mumbled to herself, but Tsume heard her loud and clear.

"Don't be stupid. You are a wolf."

"Tsume...if I'm a wolf then why do I care about what one human and his words. A wolf shouldn't be this way for any human or anybody other than their own pack!"

Tsume walked up to her and shouted, "Stop saying such stupid things! You are who you are. Esmeralda is who you are...and you will always be Esmeralda. You need to remember that."

Esmeralda looked down and said, "I don't think I can go to Paradise. You guys should go on without me."

Tsume placed his hands on her shoulders, causing Esmeralda to look up towards him. "You will go to Paradise, no matter what. You are going to Paradise with me."

Her eyes widen. "Tsume..." Tsume and Esmeralda were staring at each other for a while until a sudden explosion came out of nowhere, causing everyone to have a serious look on their face.

"Tsume, Esmeralda, did you feel that?" Kiba asked.

They nodded 'yes' before Tsume said, "Yeah. It's coming from over there."

"Where's Toboe?" Hige asked before everyone heard a gunshot but somehow it just made Esmeralda's chest hurt; as if she was the one who got shot.

"Esmeralda, are you okay?" Tsume asked.

Esmeralda placed a hand on her heart and said, "Yeah, but...somehow...I think something just happened over that we must go over there!"

Everyone started running to where they heard the gunshot and then a second gunshot was made a few seconds later.

'For some reason, I had a really bad feeling about this. It's as if someone I know got shot.' Esmeralda's eyes widen when a thought struck her. 'God. Please don't let it be Oyaji and Toboe that got shot. Please tell me that they are safe.'

* * *

After running to the location, the scene in front of everyone was when Esmeralda knew God didn't listened to her. There lied two bodies in front of them; one was Toboe and the other was Oyaji.

Tsume ran up to them and shouted, "Toboe!"


	24. Chapter 24

There is no way that those two bodies in front of everyone was Toboe and Oyaji. Slowly Esmeralda walked up to their bodies and started to pet Toboe first but his body was cold...very cold and she couldn't feel his heartbeat. 'Toboe is...dead.' Esmeralda thought as tears started to build up at the corner of her eyes.

"Stupid kid! Toboe!" Tsume shouted.

Esmeralda could tell that Tsume is feeling just as bad as she was about Toboe. She knew that Tsume thought of Toboe as a little brother.

But aside from Toboe, she quickly sat next to Oyaji. She could tell that they were both shot but didn't know who shot them.

"Oyaji...please...wake up..." Esmeralda said as she was shaking Oyaji's body, trying to see if he was still alive.

Blue kneeled beside Esmeralda and called out, "Oyaji..."

"Oyaji...please."

"...Golden...Eye..." Oyaji muttered as he slowly opened his eyes.

Esmeralda and Blue gasped in delight and shouted, "Oyaji!"

"The wolf...with blue scar...and golden eye..." He muttered.

'Blue scar...and a golden eye?' Esmeralda's eyes widen and gasped, '...that's...Darcia!' "Oyaji! Did Darcia do this to you!?" She asked.

"Yes..." Oyaji's life was slowly fading away.

"No...please don't leave Oyaji." Esmeralda pleaded.

Oyaji turned towards Blue and said, "I'm sorry...Blue…" He turned towards Esmeralda, "and...I'm sorry...Ruth..."

"Oyaji, I'm Esmeralda, not Ruth."

"Esmeralda...you're just like Ruth. I'm sorry...for...every.,.thing..." With that said, Oyaji took his final breath and then died right in front of everyone.

The tears started to trail down Esmeralda's cheeks as everyone stayed still and had their moment. Esmeralda kept stroking Toboe's cold fur thinking that he might be in his own Paradise now and thinking that Oyaji can finally be in peace with Ruth and his wife. 'Maybe...someday...Blue can join them as well.' Esmeralda thought to herself.

"We must hurry. If this was Darcia's doing, then he is probably close to opening our Paradise." Kiba said.

"He's right. We must go before Darcia does." Hubb said.

"You guys go ahead...I want to...stay here for a little while..." Esmeralda said.

"So do I...I wanna talk to the kid." Tsume said.

"We understand. Hurry back when you're done." Kiba said before everyone started heading towards the mountains as Tsume and Esmeralda stayed next to the dead bodies.

Esmeralda just sat there staring at Oyaji's body as Tsume was talking to Toboe's dead body. "Hey Oyaji... I know you are with your wife and Ruth now and I want you to say hi to them for me…especially Ruth. I know you missed him so much. I want you to tell him that he'll see Blue soon...but not as a wolf but as a human. A human who can be Ruth's older sister. Oyaji, take care of them and I hope you are happy in your Paradise. I hope Toboe is happy in his Paradise too. Goodbye, Oyaji, Toboe." She said.

She quickly wiped the tears away and got up as she waited for Tsume to finish. Once he was done, they started running after the others to catch up to them in their wolf forms.

* * *

While they were running, Esmeralda noticed that Tsume was crying for the first time and he quickly wiped them away.

"Tsume..." Esmeralda called out.

He turned towards her and said, "Yes?"

"Will... Will we find Paradise?"

"Yes we will. We will all go to Paradise, especially you. I will make sure that I take you to Paradise with me."

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah." She was really happy to hear those words coming out to Tsume.

'That's the reason to why I've fallen for you, Tsume. Without you, I don't know how my life would've been without you, or the others. Right now, we have to catch up with everyone else so that we can stop Darcia from opening Paradise and we can go to Paradise together.' She thought to herself.

* * *

Once they have reached to the mountains, they started climbing up as they saw the others looking down.

Esmeralda thought they were looking for them but they weren't. She sees an object coming down close to them and realized that it was Hubb.

'What happened to him?!' She shouted in her head.

As Hubb was falling, he took a quick glance at Esmeralda and Tsume and gave a thumbs up to them before hitting the ground.

Esmeralda couldn't see his body due to Tsume blocking the impact on the ground for her and she just stood there and hugs him to pray for Hubb's happiness in his Paradise.

After praying, they continued to climb up the mountain and managed to catch up with the others.

"What..." Esmeralda tried to ask her question, but couldn't finish it.

Kiba turned towards her and said, "He slipped off the cliff while climbing. He didn't want us to help him."

"Oh..." She looked back down and saw his dead body.

Hubb was smiling and that let me Esmeralda know that he wil be happy to see Cher in his Paradise.

"That's...good to know..." She muttered.

"Well, if it isn't the wolves." A voice said from above.

"What?"

Everyone looked up and saw a Dark blue wolf with a scar under his eye and he has a golden eye. 'Oh, no…It's him!' Esmeralda shouted in her head. The wolf was none other than Darcia, himself.


	25. Chapter 25

Darcia appeared as everyone reached to the top and not only was he there; he was also a dark-purple wolf. Somehow, he managed to turn himself into a wolf.

"What lies ahead is a Paradise for wolves. There cannot be any humans in the Paradise." Daria said.

At thst point Blue was furious and everyone knew why. She is furious with the fact that Darcia had killed Oyaji...even Esmeralda furious too.

"You...you killed Oyaji!" Blue shouted. With that said, Esmeralda stood in front of Cheza as everyone else was standing guard in front of them.

"Cheza...come with me...together we can open up Paradise...we can accomplish our goals...with you by my side..." Daria said.

"Don't you dare go near her..." Kiba growled before he turned into his wolf form and he and Darcia started to attack each other. "Hige! Tsume!...take care of Cheza, Blue, and Esmeralda!"

As they continued to fight, Darcia somehow made the first move to make Kiba bleed first as Kiba fell to the ground. Darcia started to head towards their directions as Esmeralda covered Cheza from harm and Blue attacked Darcia in her wolf form. Esmeralda saw that Blue couldn't hold on much against Darcia as he slammed Blue to the ground. Esmeralda tried to help Blue but Hige pushed her aside and told her to stay with Cheza. Darcia held his jaw out towards Blue's neck in which Esmeralda knew what we going to happen next.

"No! Don't!" Esmeralda's screams didn't seem to help as Darcia bit Blue's neck.

Seeing the horror caused Cheza to cry and it caused a huge effect to Hige. He attacked Darcia in his wolf form with such anger that not even a single scratch could harm him. Darcia just laughed and soon, he took a big bite at Hige as he fell to the ground.

Esmeralda couldn't take in the horror because as soon as Darcia headed towards her direction, she quickly pushed Cheza aside and attacked him in her wolf form.

Darcia started to laugh at her. "Fool, you are not even close to my strength. Now be gone." He grabbed her tail and threw her aside as she took an impact on an iced rock.

"Esmeralda!" Tsume shouted as he headed towards Darcia but then Darcia just pushed Tsume aside as he too made an impact on the rock.

Esmeralda saw Darcia grabbed Cheza in his mouth as if she was bait. "Cheza!" Kiba shouted.

"Goodbye…wolves." Darcia said before running off with Cheza in his mouth and Kiba followed him.

Esmeralda quickly got up and ran to Tsume's side to help him up. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

Esmeralda nodded. "Yes, I am. We need to go after them!" She started to chase after Kiba and Darcia but then she found Hige and Blue laying on the ground which delayed her chase.

She quickly ran to their side to check on them. Hige was still alive and is in horrible condition but Blue...Blue was already dead...she was covered with blood and her face looked so peaceful.

"Esmeralda...go after...them..." Hige breathed out.

"what about you?" Tsume asked.

Hige smiled. "Heh...there's no point...just kill me..."

Esmeralda's eyes widen as she shouted, "No! We're not gonna kill you!"

"Please! Just kill me...it's better off than suffering this pain...I want to be at peace with Blue...please..."

Esmeralda didn't know what to do but Tsume just lightly pushed her aside as he took the final move and 'killed' Hige with his bare teeth.

She held in her tears as she saw the scene. 'Two more of my friends have died...I just want all of us to go to Paradise...' She thought to herself.

"Esmeralda...let's go! Kiba's waiting!" Tsume said, snapping her out of her trance.

"R-right." Tsume grabbed her hand as they quickly went after Kiba and caught up to him after a couple of minutes.

* * *

Once Esmeralda and Tsume caught up to them, Darcia was already in a position to kill Kiba but then Tsume pushed Darcia aside as Esmeralda quickly ran to Cheza's aide. Cheza was covered in blood. Her skin was withering as she slowly tries to get up.

"Cheza...what are you doing..." Esmeralda asked.

"Take me up there...it's where Paradise is..." Cheza said as she pointed up to where she wants to go.

"But..."

"Please..."

Esmealda quickly shut her mouth and helped her get to the very top of the mountain. She looked behind her and saw that Kiba was heading towards them with Darcia and Tsume fighting each other.

'I really hope that something bad won't happen to Tsume.' She thought in her head.

* * *

Once Esmeralda and Cheza have reached to the top of the mountain, there was a huge gap that might've been at least 200 feet down. She stared at Cheza seeing what she is going to do next.

"Cheza...where's the entrance?" Esmeralda asked as she gently put Cheza down.

Cheza pointed down. "Down here...Rio...thank you..."

"What..."

Cheza quickly kissed her cheek as she took a step and fell to the bottom of the gap. Esmeralda's reactions were delayed as she saw her fall down. She didn't know what she was doing so she tried to jump with her but Kiba grabbed her hand to prevent her from doing so.

"You stay here and help Tsume, I'll go after her. If this is our last time seeing each other, then i thank you for coming..." Kiba said before he went down after Cheza.

After realizing what was going on, Esmeralda quickly headed back to where Darcia and Tsume was and she sneaked up on Darcia and attacked him.

Darcia chuckled at her. "Well, aren't you just a stupid wolf."

"I rather die as a wolf than a coward!" Esmeralda shouted before she started to attack Darcia as he blocked them or ended up attacking her. Tsume comes along to attack too so then it was two on one.

After a while, Darcia managed to hold Esmeralda onto the ground as he was about to rip her neck off but then Tsume saved her. Darcia grabbed Tsume and slammed him a couple of times onto a huge rock. After that, Darcia ran past Tsume and bite his whole side.

Esmeralda gasped as she couldn't believe to what she saw as Tsume just lied on the ground, not moving. "Tsume!"

Darcia stood over her and said, "He'll be dead soon…he can never go to Paradise...it was fun while it last...You're very lucky that I decided to let you live." She watches Darcia jump down the gap in which he is heading towards Kiba and Cheza.

Esmeralda quickly stood up on her feet and ran over to Tsume. She fell on her knees as she watches him breathe heavily. "Tsume…"

Tsume opened his eyes and stared at her. "You should follow him…if you don't…you'll miss…the gate to Paradise…" He wheezed out.

"I'm not leaving your side. Not until the very end." She said.

"Esmeralda…"

A small wind picked up, blowing Esmeralda's hair out of her eyes, revealing her scared eye to Tsume. She gazed at the deep gash in his side and thigh. She knew that she couldn't prevent the inevitable. Tears began to build up in her eyes.

"Esmeralda, don't cry…please…" Tsume said, wiping the tear that escaped from her eyes. She brought her hand and placed it on top of his hand, holding it to her face.

"I can't help but cry…just like before…all of my friends have died, and not the one person who is important to me and made a great impact in my life is dying before my eyes. Tell me, Tsume, how can I not cry?" She asked, her eyes locked with his eyes.

"Esmeralda, do you remember back then…you asked me about my scar on my chest. This is the mark of my sin." Esmeralda's eyes widen as he continued, "I abandoned my friends to be killed and…ran away. And then…I was thrown out of my pack. I didn't…need any…friends and…there was nothing…I believed in…I betrayed those…around me…Until I met…you and…the guys…I wanted…take you to…Paradise…with me…I wouldn't be here…if it wasn't for…you…"

Still looking into his eyes, Esmeralda knew that she was running out of time. They were starting to slowly glaze over. She let her hand drop, coming to rest on his chest which was barely rising, his heartbeat slowing underneath her palm.

"Esmeralda…promise me something…"

"Anything…"

"Promise…we'll meet again…in Paradise…"

She nodded sadly, tears still trailing down her face. She leaned into him and kissed him softly on the lips, which he returned with unspoken love and affection. "I promise." She whispered.

His eyes were clouding faster, he told her to leave. She obeyed, unwillingly, and ran off in the direction Kiba, Cheza, and Darica went; her tears blurring her vision.

Tsume watched her leave, slowly slipping down the boulder he was leaning against. 'Damn my pride…Keep your promise, Esmeralda. I love you…'

A lone howl pierced through the air; the howl had sadness and regret. Esmeralda jumped down into the gap, her heart wrenching at the sound.

* * *

'Damn you…Damn you, Darica!' Esmeralda ran towards the place where Darica stood over Kiba who was heavily injured, lunging at his neck.

Catching Darica off guard, Esmeralda managed to clamp tightly to his neck. But it was in vain. He quickly flung her over him; she swiftly regained her composure, despite the small injuries she received from her last fight with him. They both lunged, attacking each other mid-air, blood splattering the white snow. Sliding rom the impact of landing, both Esmeralda and Darica stood at an attack stance. Suddenly, Esmeralda collapsed.

"Esmeralda!" Kiba cried out.

Darica turned his attention to Cheza and stalked off after her. Kiba slowly made his way over to Esmeralda in wolf form and began to nudge her.

"Esmeralda…no…" He looked at the deep gash on her neck; he knew she wasn't going to make it.

"Kiba…I made…a promise…" Her breaths were started to become shallower by the second. Kiba looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

"A…promise…that…I'll keep…no…matter..w…what." She coughed out.

"Then we'll all meet again…" He replied.

"In Paradise." Finally, she let the darkness take her away.

* * *

'Light…?' Blinking the blinding light away that shined through her eyelids, Esmeralda slowly opened her eyes to see a beautiful green meadow that spread as far as the eyes could see. Standing in front of her was a man that she couldn't make out any detail of him. The sun managed to have him in a complete shadow.

She slowly started to stand up as the man said, "I see you've kept your promise."

She smiled at him and said, "I never go back on my word. Especially to the ones that are very precious to me."

He smiled back at her. "And I'm glad for that. There's nothing to hide…so let it go."

Those words were all it took for Esmeralda to run up to Tsume's open arms and embrace each other tightly. "I miss you, Esmeralda." He whispered in her ear.

"And I miss you, Tsume."

"I didn't get to tell you this…but…I love you, Esmeralda."

She looked up and said, "I love you too, Tsume." He softly kissed her on the lips.

"Hey you guys!" A voice shouted.

Both Esmeralda and Tsume looked over a small hill and saw Hige waving his arms and grinning. Next to him was Toboe who was waving his arms while jumping up and down.

"Tsume! Esmeralda! You're here!" Toboe shouted.

Standing behind them was Blue, Cher, Hubb, Oyaji, Kiba, and Cheza; all smiling happily.

"Let's all go to Paradise…together." Cheza said.

"Like we all promised." Kiba added.

Tsume and Esmeralda nodded before setting off towards them. 'This is exactly what I want for Paradise...this is all too real...as if it was just a...'


	26. Chapter 26

Esmeralda slowly opened her eyes as she sees that she was sitting on someone's doorsteps. 'Could this be that… all of this was just a really long dream?' She asked herself in her head. "Well that's impossible...there is no way." She muttered to herself as she got up and started to walk around the streets to see what was going on.

To Esmeralda, It seemed like a regular day with a sum of rain. As she was passing by some stores, she cross the street to see a lovely married couple sharing an umbrella and telling jokes to each other. That married couple was Hubb and Cher. She waved towards them but they looked at her and gave her some money. They said that she look like a sweet girl like their daughter.

Esmeralda was really confused. 'Have they forgotten who I was?' She asked herself.

* * *

The next couple of blocks, she accidently bumped into someone in which she apologized to that person. The person said that it wasn't her fault and smiled towards her. Looking at his face, it was Hige and next to him was Blue, whom Esmeralda assumes is his girlfriend. Blue gave her a warm smile as they walked away hand in hand. Esmeralda was happy to see them together but she realized that what she had dreamed might've just been her imagination with them being involved in them too.

Each block she pass by, a familiar face arrives. She sees Toboe working at a local pet shop, Oyaji with a boy she assume was Ruth and his wife eating at a fancy restaurant, and finally, she sees Kiba walking around like a stranger just taking a walk. It really made her happy to see them all alive and well. She quickly took a turn at a nearby alley as she sat on the wet ground, crying.

It was really sad to see that everyone she loved were just random people in her dream. After a couple of minutes of crying, she realized that the one person she has not seen yet...was Tsume. She quickly got up and started running around the streets searching for him.

* * *

Esmeralda came across a park and sat on one of the benches, staring at the rain with sadness in her eyes. She looked everywhere, but couldn't find Tsume anywhere. She spotted a flower, a very strange looking flower that is bright white and has a bit of black in one of the petals. Looking at the flower reminded her of Cheza so she picked the flower from the ground and held onto it. After taking a deep breath, she started to sing a song that she knew while growing up.

_Been a long road to follow  
been there and gone tomorrow  
without saying goodbye to yesterday  
Are the memories I hold still valid?  
or have the tears deluded them?  
Maybe this time tomorrow  
the rain will cease to follow  
and the mist will fade into one more today  
Something somewhere out there keeps calling  
Am I going home?  
Will I hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?  
Zero gravity what's it like?  
Am I alone?  
Is somebody there beyond these heavy aching feet  
Still the road keeps on telling me to go on  
Something is pulling me  
I feel the gravity of it all_

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and gasped when she sees Tsume walking towards her with his motorcycle parked behind him. He stood in front of her with a smirk on his face. "Hey, there." He greeted.

"Hey yourself." She greeted back.

"Have we met somewhere before?" He asked. She wanted to say yes, but she didn't want him to think that she was crazy if she told him how they met.

"No. My name is Esmeralda."

"I see, Esmeralda." He turned around and leaned back against the bench she was sitting on. "I thought it was an angel's song."

Esmeralda turned her head away when she felt her cheeks turning red. "No way…"

"You look down in the dumps."

"No…I just couldn't find a certain someone that I was looking for…" She said as she stared at the white flower she was still holding. She looked back up to Tsume and asked, "You never told me your name, stranger."

Tsume chuckled. "Tsume."

"Tsume…That's a cool name. So, Tsume, what are you doing here?"

"I was out riding my motorcycle when I heard your voice."

"Well, I thought that I was alone in this park. I really don't like it when other people can hear my song. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Is that so?" Tsume started to laugh which caused Esmeralda to glare at him.

"Hey! It's not funny!" She shouted.

"Sorry." Tsume couldn't stop laughing. Esmeralda started to giggle before she began to laugh with Tsume. They both stopped laughing as Tsume smiled down at Esmeralda. "At least you're laughing." Esmeralda looked confused. "When I saw you, you looked so sad."

Suddenly, Esmeralda started to sneeze before hugging herself for warmth. Tsume took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders. "You should've come out with a jacket."

"I'm fine. You'll probably catch a cold."

"I won't. Here's why." Tsume picked up Esmeralda's hand and placed it on top of his chest, where his heart is at. She could feel his heart beat from the palm of her hand. "How is it?"

"It's so warm…"

"Is your chest warm, too?" She smiled as she nodded 'yes'.

"Come on. I'll give you a lift to your home." Tsume pulled Esmeralda towards his motorcycle and got on before handing her a helmet. "Here."

Esmeralda hesitantly reached for the helmet until she saw Tsume smiling at her and nodded. She smiled back before took the helmet and put it on. She got behind Tsume and wrapped her arms around him tightly, so she wouldn't fall off when he goes. Tsume started the motorcycle before putting on a spare helmet and took off

"There's something about you that seems familiar." Tsume said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. But I can't quite recall it..."

Esmeralda smiled. "Heh...well..."

* * *

Tsume dropped Esmeralda off at the same place where she first woke up which just so happens to be her home. She handed back the jacket and helmet to Tsume before she said, "Thanks for the lift."

Tsume waved at her before she turned around and walked towards her door. "Oh yeah." She turned back around and looked at Tsume.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Can I hear you sing again? Just seeing you would be good enough for me." Tsume said with a smile.

She smiled back and nodded. "Sure."

"See you around!" Tsume said before taking off.

'Even though you don't remember me, Tsume...I know that we would never separate no matter what. Even if you were to remember me, I would tell you that our first meeting was already Paradise.' She thought to herself.

She placed a hand over her heart as she stared at the direction where Tsume went. "So warm."


End file.
